Fairy High
by vintage-misery49
Summary: An AU of Natsu and Lucy as high school teachers, what could possibly go wrong. Well a scheming Mirajane and their own students pairing them up is what will happen, even though they both swear they're only friends.
1. Shipper Students

"Ok guys, turn to page 108. I want you to read the text and afterwards answer questions 1 through 8" Lucy said as she stood in front of her English 2 class. She waited until she heard the pages flipping and a few groans from the two troublemakers, before going back to her desk and plopping herself in her chair. Crossing her legs she turned to the essays she needed to grade for her other class.

Leaning back in her chair she began to read the first. When she saw her phone light up on her desk, she craned her neck to see who it was. Her mouth tugged up into a smile when she saw it was from her friend, and co-worker, Natsu Dragneel.

Looking at her students, she decided that since they all seemed to be engaged in their work, it wouldn't hurt to look at a text and maybe text back. Grabbing her phone she unlocked the screen and read the message.

"Hey Luce! Having fun teaching students about Shakesphere or whoever he is?"

Smiling, she couldn't help but almost laugh at how he had spelled Shakespeare wrong, she knew he used auto-correct like it was his savior sometimes. So he did this on purpose. Tapping in her responses, she sent him back a message and waited for his reply.

"First off, I'm not teaching them Shakespeare. Secondly, are you having fun teaching barbarians how to play dodgeball without taking off someone's head?"

"Hey they're getting better. Only one guy had to go to the nurse today!"

"Uh huh? That's the sixth time so far this week you've had someone sent to the nurses office from that class. I bet Porlyusica thinks that you're classes are dangerous."

"Hey, I make sure none of the girls play!"

"Yeah, that makes everyone feel so much safer."

"At least kids have fun in my class."

"Students like my class!"

"Sure, the real nerdy ones."

"I hate you."

"No you don't."

"Nope, I'm going to stay angry this time."

"Fine, will you forgive me if I get you dinner?"

Lucy paused when she got his latest message. Natsu never offered to pay for food, normally she had to guilt trip him or force him to. So this offer was a one in a life time chance probably.

She was about to answer back when she heard one of her students call "Ms. Heartfilla?"

Looking up she answered "Yes Cindy, what is it?"

"Are you texting your boyfriend, Coach Dragneel?"

"What?!" Lucy said feeling her face heat up as her students began to laugh. "For the fifth time me and Coach Dragneel are not in a relationship" Lucy exclaimed as she slammed her palms on her desk. She waited until her students had all calmed down before she answered.

"Sure Natsu, but you better not back out of it or I'll cut off your head."

"Never dream of it Luce. I'll come get you at your usual time."

Lucy couldn't help but smile at the fact that she would be having dinner tonight with Natsu. "It's not a date Lucy" she scolded herself. "But still" she thought "I wouldn't mind if it was."

* * *

A/N: I plan to post a new chapter every Monday and Friday


	2. Rumor Has It

Part 2: Rumor Has It

When the bell signaled that the period was over, Lucy was almost as happy as her students. She was starving and in dire need of some peace and quiet for a half an hour. When the final student filed out, Lucy let herself relax.

Taking out her lunch, she was about to eat when she heard a knock on her door. She half expected it be Natsu, it wouldn't be the first time he had skipped his own class to come harass her and mooch food.

Swinging open the door she said "Natsu I swear to god I'm not letting you in. You know that you have a class right now!"

"Oh-ho expecting someone else were we?" came a tinkling voice.

"Mirajane" Lucy exclaimed when she saw it was the white haired secretary that was paying her a visit.

"Hello Lucy, I was coming by to talk. Lunch is very boring in the office. All I have to talk to is the delinquents and such, no one ever has any good gossip" Mirajane said.

"And neither do I" Lucy said.

"Well you can listen to mine and tell me whether or not it's true."

"What kind of gossip are you planning to talk to me about?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh trust me, you'll really get a kick out of it" Mirajane teased as she pushed her way inside. Sighing Lucy closed the door and walked back to her desk and sat down. Mira pulled up a chair and put it right in front of Lucy's desk before sitting down.

"Now then, according to rumors from the students you were texting in class the other day" Mira said.

"Oh are you here to confiscate my phone?" Lucy asked sarcastically.

"No, but according to the rumor you were texting Natsu" Mira teased.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Well you know it's not like it's against policy that co-workers can't date."

"Are you implying what I think you are?"

"If you and Natsu are dating no one can stop you."

"For the last time" Lucy exclaimed "Natsu and me aren't dating! We're just friends!"

"Suuuure and that's why you two always seem to be together, eat out together and text each other during classes" Mira said rolling her eyes.

"Mira I swear, there is nothing between us."

"Oh come on now, the two of yours sexual tension is sharp enough to cut butter. Geez, one day you'll probably jump each other while at school."

"MIRA!" Lucy exclaimed feeling her face heat up.

Giggling Mira added "Plus it's not like you don't have any feelings of attraction to him."

"Mira, I only told you once that I found him attractive, that doesn't mean I want to date him. If I called Gray attractive would you say that I'm sexually attracted to him?!"

"Hmm I don't know, but I know Juvia would have something to say about that."

"True I don't think I want to inflict her wrath" Lucy shivered. Everyone knew full well that the science teacher was a bit obsessed about her colleague.

"Anyway back to the matter at hand-"

"Mira" Lucy warned.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"I'm not in love with Natsu."

"Fine" Mira huffed "But that won't stop the rumors."

"I know" Lucy said as she watched Mira get up and walk out. She certainly wasn't in love with Natsu, but she knew she was getting there.


	3. Between Classes

Part 3: Between Classes

Tapping her pencil on her desk Lucy stared absentmindedly out the window. It was her planning time but she really had nothing to do, it was Friday and she had only two classes left, both of which were going to spend their class time working on their essays.

She contemplated going down to the office and chatting with Mirajane, but that would most likely end in embarrassment like the last time. Sighing she was about ready to use this time wisely and take a nap, when a mop of pink haired appeared at her window.

Lucy had to admit what she did next was not the smoothest thing she ever did, but in her defense she had not been paying attention at all.

She could hear Natsu's laughter from outside; if this had been a normal situation she would have joined in with his infectious laughter. But at the moment Lucy was dealing more with the embarrassment of falling out of her chair and landing in a pile on the floor.

Grumbling she sent him what she hoped was her best death glare, but all it seemed to do was encourage him. Getting to her feet again she looked at him with her hands on her hips and a raised eyebrow, he better hope he had a good excuse for skipping his class to scare the living daylights out of her.

When he motioned for her to open the window, she opened it hesitantly.

Sticking his head through the window, Natsu chimed "Yo Luce, how's planning time going?"

"Hahaha" she replied sarcastically "Just great."

"I could tell by the fact that you were practically drooling that you weren't doing anything-"

"I wasn't drooling!"

"So I came to drop by" Natsu said with his trademark smile.

"Natsu, don't you have a class right now?" Lucy asked sending him a questioning look.

"Oh their out running on the soccer field right now."

"Do you really think their doing that? Isn't this period full of girls who would rather sit on the bleachers and file their nails?"

"Yeah, but I left a few balls with them and the few guys in the class will probably keep kicking the balls at them until a few give in."

"Do you really believe that?"

"No, but I figured it be a good excuse to come and see you" Natsu said nonchalantly.

Lucy could feel her face heat up at that remark. Damn him and his insufferable hotness. He hadn't even said it with a hint of coyness or anything suggestive of him having feelings toward her. Not that it would stop her from hoping that it did. "How kind of you, but what if someone gets hurt?"

"Oh come on, this is my safest class. Only like four of them participate" Natsu said waving his hand.

"Sure Natsu, but didn't one of them run into a wall the other day?"

"He wasn't looking where he was going. It was his own fault, and there's no walls outside" Natsu replied. Unfortunately before Lucy could reply, the sound of something hitting metal and a few loud curses words made her look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Shit I forgot there was soccer goals there" he said before looking at her gloating face "You can tell me your told it so later okay. I have another student to take to the nurse."

"How have you not got called in by the board?"

"You guess is as good as mine" Natsu called as he began to jog away "I'll pick you up at your normal time."

Lucy watched him jog off and had to admit, she was kinda thankful that the kid had hurt himself, they had given her an opportunity to look at a great view.


	4. Grading Papers

Installment 4: Grading Papers

"Do you really have papers to grade for gym class?" Lucy asked Natsu with a raised eyebrow.

Sending her an offended look Natsu replied "Unfortunately yes, I do. I'm just like any of the other teachers of this school. I can't just slap a grade in the gradebook depending on if they participate all the time."

"Oh you can't?"

"No, I don't have it that easy, unlike you do right now."

"I do not have it easy, I probably grade more papers than most of the teachers in this school!"

"Yeah, but who's using who as a foot rest?" Natsu asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lucy felt her cheeks heat up a bit with that statement. It was true that right at the moment the two were sitting on Lucy's couch grading paper. Lucy was using lying the full length of the couch and using Natsu's lap as a footrest. "It's not like you mind!" Lucy accused.

"Got me there" Natsu said before going back to grading papers.

Goddamn that man for being so unreadable, she couldn't tell if he meant that flirty or just sincerely. Going back to her papers she let silence engulf them again. Of course she knew it would never last for long with Natsu.

"So what did you make your kids write for you know? This is the fifth essay this term right?" Natsu asked.

"I made them write about a character of their choice that we've read about recently and argue whether their believable or not" Lucy answered.

"Ah" Natsu replied.

"Plus this is not the fifth one this month" Lucy replied with a huff. She watched as his lips curled up into his normal smirk before asking "So what are you grading?"

"Oh just the norm. It's a requirement now to make gym students write an essay about the benefits of gym class and exercise."

"Really? Interesting."

"Yeah, you should read some of the stuff fifth period wrote, it's gold" Natsu said hitting the one paper he had in his hand.

Leaning forward and holding out her hand she demanded "Hand it over, let me read."

Looking over at her with a sly grin on his face, Natsu stuck his tongue out and said "Nope, for gym teacher eyes only."

"Awww no fair, you always look at my students work, let me look at yours" Lucy pleaded.

"Hmmm" Natsu said tapping his chin "No, but I'll read it out loud if you care so much."

"Yes" Lucy said as she settled back on the end of the couch.

"This is done by the one kid who always runs into walls."

"Oooooo, this should be good."

"Gym is important cause we run and exercise and stuff. We sweat a lot which makes us stay thin. Gym also helps teach you how to deal with concussions."

"Wow that was…" Lucy said before trailing off.

"There's more, this is what nail file girl said" Natsu said before clearing his throat "Gym is important because helps teach us about sports and stuff. But it doesn't teach cheerleading, which sucks. It also teaches us how to catch a ball without chipping our nails."

Taking another breath he continued "Gym is nothing more than a way to confine us inside and trapped under the schools iron rule. It teaches people how to be violent and possible ways to kill people. Gym has no importance other that brainwashing students further to comply with the government. Gym helps teach us how to be soilders by the high school age and lower."

"Wow that's…..deep? Who was that by?" Lucy asked after he finished.

"That kid named Michael that thinks that the government brainwashes everyone and is run by aliens" Natsu said with a straight face.

"You might want to recommend him to Erza" Lucy said.

"I already did. So what did your kids write?" Natsu asked leaning over so he was lying on her legs.

"Get off me you fat ass" Lucy said kicking his side until he finally relented and got back up.

"Geez Luce, so cruel."

"I don't need you crushing my legs. Anyway I'll read you some of these. There pretty good though, so they won't be like yours."

"Hey, their just a bad class."

"Whatever" Lucy said with a laugh before picking up her first paper.

* * *

A/N: I would just like to thank everyone for the comments and such. Also I would like to ask, who would you prefer to see in the story later on, Dan Straight or Sting Eucliffe?


	5. Helping Out

"Come on guys, do you remember anything we went over?! Kick the ball with the inside of your foot!" Natsu yelled at his students as they practiced their passes. He had let them get off easy so far by just letting them play dodgeball, or anything aerobic. But not anymore. He was teaching them soccer and so far the only ones excelling in the slightest were the soccer players themselves.

He was about ready to tell them to just sit back on the bleachers, when he saw Lucy walk in. "Hey Luce" he called before jogging over to her. "Just keep practicing your passes" he called to his students from over his shoulder.

"Hey Natsu" Lucy said with a grin "I don't mean to bother you during class, but I need to get some soccer balls out the back before the boys team take them all, and you're the only one with the key."

"No problem" Natsu said as he dug through his short pockets, looking for the keys. "Ah hah!" he said triumphantly pulling out his key role "Found 'em."

"Thanks" Lucy said reaching out for the keys before Natsu pulled them out of reach. "Natsu" she said as she reached for them again, only to have Natsu hold them above her head. Puffing her cheeks out in anger she began to jump trying to get the keys "Natsu Dragneel I swear I'm going to murder you if you don't hand those keys over."

Laughing Natsu let this routine continue for a few more seconds before giving them to her, he found her to be adorable when she was angry.

"Ok, ok" Natsu said, handing the keys back to her "But I'm coming with you."

"Why do you need to come with me?" Lucy asked "Scared I'll lose your keys?"

"No, but I know your way to short to reach the ball bag. The boys like to put it up high to give your girls problems."

"Do they really result to flirting practices that are used in elementary school?"

Shrugging Natsu answered "Probably, I don't know what's going on in their pubescent heads."

"Wow, I didn't know suck a big word Natsu" Lucy teased.

"Shut up, you were the one who made refined" Natsu said as the headed over to the closet that held the sports gear.

"If I didn't then you would still eat food with your hands."

"Keep telling yourself that" Natsu said as he unlocked the door. He began to head over to the rack that held the soccer balls before Lucy rushed by him.

"I can totally do this without your help" Lucy said as she turned around and began reaching for the bag.

"Luce."

"I can do this" Lucy said as she began to stand on her tip toes.

"Luce?"

"Shut up idiot" Lucy said stubbornly as she began to jump up to get the bag.

"Geez Luce, you say I'm bullheaded" Natsu muttered before heading over to her "Let me help you weirdo."

"No I'm fine idiot" Lucy insisted.

"Lucy, your too short, accept that" Natsu said as he stood behind.

"Excuse me" Lucy said whirling around on him "I'm not short!"

"You're too short to get the bag."

"I can totally get that bag."

"Really? I'd like to see you prove it, shrimp."

"Oh, so now you're resorting to using your brother's nicknames for Levy on me eh?"

"Maybe I am."

"You're an idiot."

"You're a weirdo" Natsu said just as he realized just how close they had gotten to each other since the argument. Their faces seemed to be only inches apart, and mavis did he forget how gorgeous she was sometimes.

Lucy seemed to realize too since she had stopped her yelling at him. He noticed how her face seemed to have gone flushed. Though from the growing heat crawling up his neck, he figured he wasn't looking any different.

Their eyes were locked, and Natsu swore her eyes were literally shining. He let his gaze go to her lips and god did they look so plump and kissable. Damn this stupid crush he had harbored for her since the first time he had seen her.

Temptation scratched at his brain. It was taking all his willpower to not just grab her face and plant one on her. It would be totally worth it even if she punched him in the face.

Throwing all caution to the wind he began to lean closer to her and brought his hand to cup her face. He swore she was leaning up to him and could feel her breath on his lips. He could barely comprehend the fact that he was about to kiss her. But not like he would even think of stopping now. Her face was so close to his and he closed his eyes and..

"Um, am I interrupting something?"

Yanking his head and opening his eyes he looked to the door to see his one student, Cindy, standing by the door looking like she felt as awkward as they did about the whole thing.

"Umm no" Lucy said quickly "What do you need Cindy?"

Looking over to Natsu she said "Coach Dragneel, Will got hit in the head with the soccer ball."

"Again, he did this to himself at practice the other day, give me a sec to get theses balls down for Ms. Heartfilla and then I'll take him to the nurse" Natsu told her.

"Okay" she said before walking away, as she turned around Natsu realized he was still cupping Lucy's face. Quickly taking his hand away from her face he reached above her, grabbed the bag of balls and threw them down on the floor.

"Here you go Luce, gotta go. Ya know, another student nearly killing themselves in my class" he said hurriedly before bolting out of the closet cursing under his breath. "_Damn Cindy, damn Will" _they ruined his one and only chance he thought he'd ever get to kiss Lucy. Now he was royally screwed.

"You guys won't believe what I just saw!"

"What'cha see that was so great Cindy that is more important then the fact Will's trying to give himself brain damage."

"I think I walked in on Coach Dragneel and Ms. Heartfilla when they were about to kiss!"

"No way."

"Way."

"Damn, I owe Gwen ten bucks then."

* * *

A/N: Was this too fast, idk. I tried my best on the almost kiss scene, hope it decent. Will this satisfy until Friday? Also Sting: 4 Dan: 1 for who should appear latter on in the story. For those who asked, Lucy is the girls soccer coach, that's why she needed the balls.


	6. Soccer Practice

Lucy could still feel the rush of what had almost happened earlier that day, at least she hoped that was what had almost happened. Natsu had to have been going to kiss her, there was no other explanation. He literally had his hand on her face for mavis sakes!

But still she couldn't help but worry that something like that would never come again, maybe it was a once in a lifetime chance and it had been blown because Will of all people had to go run into a flipping wall.

Sighing Lucy turned her attention away from her thoughts, and towards her girls. They were going to their first game tomorrow and she wanted them in top shape, although she couldn't help but think that her co-coach wanted something else.

"Come on girls lift those legs!" bellowed Erza Scarlet "If you want to cream the Pegasi on the field tomorrow then we need you to be able to run, three more laps and I want you to all finish in your best time."

Sighing Lucy turned towards the feared guidance counselor and suggested "You could be a little easier on them Erza, you know as a guidance counselor you should come off a little more…approachable."

"I'm perfectly approachable Lucy; students come to my office all the time asking for help."

"Probably because they were forced or because they're trying to skip class" Lucy muttered.

"What was that?" Erza asked with her usual famous Erza death glare.

"Nothing Erza, maybe we should make them work on their scoring today?"

"Hmm, that sounds like a good idea, we haven't focused on it that much lately" Erza agreed. "Ok girls" Erza yelled at the girls who were downing the water bottles causing almost all of them to drop the bottles "We're going to work on scoring, thanks to Coach Lucy's suggestion, now then Jen, get into the goal. Everyone else line up and take your shots, we're going to do this until the end of practice!"

The girls sent her a pleading look and Lucy mouthed to them sorry. They all knew that Erza's word were iron and no one could change them we she had decided what she wanted.

She watched as Erza set everybody up and began yelling her demands and giving some not so nice pointers. Sighing and shaking her head at her friend she turned towards the field across from them, the one occupied by the boy soccer team, and whose coach just so happened to be Natsu.

She noticed almost instantly, not like it was hard to find pink hair. He was blowing his whistle as she watched as all the boys lined up on the line like soldiers, maybe that one kid had been right about the government using school to create soldiers she thought humorously.

Natsu pointed them off onto the field and she watched them as they all followed directions, she knew for a fact half of them never followed direction in her classes and she almost doubled over when she saw them actually listening. She also saw Will, who at the moment was her least favorite student due to his uncanny ability to run into walls at the wrong time.

She was about to turn back to her own athletes when Natsu turned around. Lucy froze and felt her face heat up, had he seen her staring. She was hoping he might have not noticed that she was watching when she saw him raise his hand and wave at her.

She sent him a weak wave and a smile back before turning back around and pretending to be grossly occupied with staring at her clipboard. Was he affect at all by what had just happened, or was it just that he hadn't been trying to kiss her earlier? Urg he was really good at being unreadable.

As Lucy did her best to keep the days earlier events just in her mind and not in her actions, she couldn't help but think that Natsu smile from when he waved at her earlier had looked a little fake.

* * *

A/N: Sting: 4 Dan: 4, there's still around three to four chapters to vote for who you would rather see.


	7. Girl Talk

Lucy sat on her bed staring at the offending object, her phone. So far it had dinged ten times in the last minute, and Lucy had a pretty good idea of who it was. She was about ready to just turn the thing off when it rang again.

Sighing in defeat Lucy reached over and grabbed the phone, she knew it would never end, and if she didn't pick up then they would just come over anyway.

"Hello" Lucy answered.

"Mavis finally! I swear I've texted you like a bajillion times and you haven't answered once! I was about ready to come over to your apartment and force you to tell me everything!" came a jittery voice from the other end.

"Levy calm down and talk a bit slower. What information are you trying so hard to get out of me? Nothing has happened at all today" Lucy said, lying through her teeth.

"Don't lie to me Heartfilla!" Levy yelled "I have my sources!"

"What sources, your boyfriend?"

"Why yes, he is Natsu's brother after all."

"So this has to do with Natsu?"

"And you! Don't lie to me, I know you two almost made out in sports closet!"

"Wha-?"

"I just can't believe you didn't tell me! I thought I was you best friend Lucy?!"

"Levy calm down your overreacting. And how did you find out about it?"

"Gajeel duh, who else?"

"How did Gajeel find out?"

"Natsu duh, who else?

"Huh, so wait a minute, Natsu was actually going to kiss me? I wasn't going crazy?" Lucy asked amazed, if this was the truth then, did that mean that Natsu liked her just like she liked him?

"Uh yeah I guess" Levy said, suddenly unsure about what was going on with her friend "Gajeel called me to tell me how Natsu was going on to him about how he almost kissed you and then you got interrupted and something about not being man enough or something to kiss you or something."

"Seriously?"

"Well that's what Gajeel said."

"I can't believe this" Lucy said in shock of what she had just heard.

"You know what this means?"

"Umm, that Natsu may like me like I like him?"

"Yes and that you should totally confess to him about how you feel" Levy squealed.

"Wha-, no way! Just because there's a possibility that Natsu may like me does not mean I should go and potentially ruin our relationship."

"But Lucy this is the best chance to do it! You have evidence that he may like you! This is the guy you've been mooning over ever since you came to work at Fairy High!" Levy exclaimed.

"I'm not so sure Levy, this doesn't sound like a good idea" Lucy said.

"Stop worrying so much Lucy, if you don't do anything then you'll never get a chance with him. He'll think you're not interested, so you need to tell him your feelings before he thinks you don't have any."

"As much as that sounds rational Levy, I'm not so sure."

"Do you want the possibility of possibly losing Natsu?"

"No, of course not."

"Then women up and tell him how you feel. If he's anything like Gajeel he won't tell you first cause he's a big baby."

"Levy" Lucy whined.

"Promise me!"

Sighing Lucy said "Fine, I'll consider telling him."

"You better, or I'll tell him for you" Levy teased.

"Levyyyy!"

"Haha, talk to you later you love-struck weirdo" Levy said before hanging up.

Sighing Lucy put her phone done before putting her head in her hands. How was she going to get the courage to tell Natsu something she hadn't even considered telling him for two years now?

* * *

A/N: Sting:5 Dan: 5, if they end up being tied I'll just randomize it. And for the people who said they don't care and just want a Nalu moment, I'm so sorry for what I have planned.


	8. The Almost Confession

Levy's words still vibrated in Lucy's mind. Even though it had been two days since her friend's urgings to finally confess to Natsu, and she had still yet to do it. So maybe she was a little chicken. Even though she had never known of him having a girlfriend since they became friends, she knew he had dated before, and maybe that scared her a little. Sure she had dated guys before, but never longer for a week or two. In high school she was considered a serial girlfriend, and despite what everyone said, she never slept with a single one of them. The longest relationship she had, was the last one she had been in, it had lasted almost a year before she found out he had been cheating on her.

Maybe she was a little scared of being in a relationship again, but still this was Natsu. Carefree, easy to be around, happy all the time Natsu, and she knew for sure that she loved him. So, finally throwing away her worries, she stood up from her desk and began to head down to the gym.

Waving at Juvia as she stopped outside the gym, she took a deep breath and tried to make all her worries and insecurities away. It was now or never, she wouldn't put it off any longer. It was the best time she could have picked, there was no sports this afternoon and only a few co-workers were left. Taking another deep breath she opened the door and stepped in.

Natsu was standing by the bleachers feverishly writing on his clipboard. She contemplated leaving but scolded herself at the thought. She was not going to back out of it now.

Walking over to him she called "Hey Natsu" and waved her hand in greeting.

When he looked up he sent her one of his famous smiles before replying "Yo Luce, sorry I haven't talked to you much lately, I've been kinda swamped preparing for the student teacher that's coming in a few days."

"Really? Didn't you have one last year?" Lucy asked "And didn't it end in a disaster?"

"Ok, so maybe Zancrow was a little too enthusiastic" Natsu said.

"He tried to kill you!"

"Lucy, he only locked me in a closet for like two hours. I was fine, I just really needed to go to the bathroom."

"And the year before that wasn't it some guy that creeped on all the girls?"

"Yesss, but this year it'll be fine. They're going to pick between the top two in the class, whichever one turns up less psychotic then that's the one I'll get."

"Yeah, ok, whatever makes you feel better" Lucy said, she could feel her confidence slowly fading, if she didn't try anything she would probably lose her courage.

"Please you're the one who's worrying" Natsu teased.

Gathering all her courage Lucy asked "Natsu, are you doing anything Friday?"

"Huh, why?" Natsu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I was, uh, thinking maybe we could...go get something to eat or go see a movie or something after work" Lucy hoped Levy would be fine with her asking him on a date, besides, it would be easier to tell him how she felt if she wasn't in a room that smelled of sweat and rubber.

"Wow, uh, Lucy. As much as I would love to accept your offer, I already have something planned" Natsu said rubbing the back of his head "I just can't cancel on them on such short notice."

"Oh, uh, yeah I understand" Lucy said, feeling as though her heart had been stomped on. Natsu never did anything on Friday nights except pester her or go out for drinks with Gray and Gajeel. But if she'd ask him if he wanted to do something with her, he would normally ditch the guys so "What do you have planned for Friday?"

"Oh, Lisanna asked me earlier this week if I wanted to have dinner with her, we haven't talked much since high school so I jumped on the offer. Sorry Luce, just know I would have rather been with you" Natsu said sheepishly.

Feeling her heart ache even more she said "It's fine Natsu, you don't have to apologize, you're a single guy, it's not like we're dating or something and I'm asking you on a date."

"Luce?" Natsu asked.

"Well, anyway have fun with Lisanna tomorrow, I'll just stay at home and rent a movie or something" Lucy said struggling to keep it together "Anyway I gotta go, see you tomorrow."

"Lucy!" Natsu called as she ran off, running his fingers through his hair, he groaned. The face she made when he told her that he was having dinner with Lisanna had broken his hear a little. He just hoped she knew that it wasn't a date. He really wished he wasn't such a nice guy who didn't like to break promises, because if he was he would have chosen Lucy in a heartbeat.

* * *

When Lucy got back to her classroom, she slammed the door behind her and sat down in her chair. She shouldn't be jumping to conclusions; Natsu hadn't said it was a date. She was just being paranoid. But she couldn't help but think of what Levy had told her about their history, and really what did she have that was any better than the white haired Social Studies teacher. Even though she considered Lisanna a friend she couldn't help but think that Natsu might be wooed by the white haired vixen.

She felt her heart sink in her chest a little more. Cursing herself, and shaking her head, she scolded herself. If what Levy had told her was true then Natsu would not reciprocate Lisanna's feelings. But, like the idiot she was, she still worried.

* * *

A/N: Sting:8 Dan:8 I'm not trying to make Lisanna the bad guy here, trust me. Also, there is only one more chapter before the polls end. So whoever has the most points by Monday will be the third major character. If it's a tie I will randomize and pick the winner that way. But until then I hope those who have a spring break will have a good time.


	9. The Dinner

When Natsu arrived at the restaurant that Lisanna had told him to meet her at, he had to say at the very least he felt underdressed. As he sat at the table waiting for her, all he saw were fancy suits and dresses, he felt out of place with his kakis and button down. But it wasn't like he had really looked into the place where Lisanna said she had a reservation at. The place really didn't feel like a place where two friends would catch up. It felt more like a place you would go to as a-

"Hey Natsu, sorry I'm a little late, there was traffic" Lisanna said apologetically as she sat down in the seat across from Natsu.

"Hey Lisanna, it's no problem. I haven't been waiting that long" he said as she noticed her dress, it seemed like she had known what type of place they were coming to unlike him "I have to say, I didn't expect this place to be this fancy."

"Ah well, I've been here before and the food was amazing. Plus a friend of mine's parents on the place, so I was able to get reservations easily instead of getting one two years from now" Lisanna answered as she picked up a menu.

Following in suit, Natsu picked up the menu but didn't bother to read it. The fancy atmosphere of the restaurant was giving off to much of a romance vibe, candles and roses and all that crap was everywhere. If he hadn't known Lisanna better, he would have thought this was some kind of date! But maybe he didn't know her as well as he used to, geez, he really thought she had gotten over that.

"What can I get you to drink?" came a voice, yanking Natsu from his thoughts.

"Uhh" Natsu said as he began to hurriedly look over the beverage options.

"I'll take the red wine choice of tonight" Lisanna said.

"And for the man?"

"Uhh, beer?" Natsu asked.

"Which one, our latest addition of ale is highly rated. But our stouts are considered top notch" the waiter said.

"Uhh, one second thought I'll just get water" Natsu said.

"You're not going to drink tonight?" Lisanna asked.

"I can decide between brands, not fancy" Natsu replied.

"You haven't changed since high school have you?" Lisanna asked.

"Hey, I'm not as stupid as I was back then" Natsu said defensively.

"Surrrrre, remember when you and…what was his name? James? Tried to jump off the roof of the school and land in the kiddie pool filled with Jell-O? If I hadn't been there you probably would have done long lasting damage to your brain."

"OK, James used to get me into a lot of trouble, but at the time it sounded like it would have been so cool. And I'm pretty sure that Jell-O stunt would've worked."

"Yeah, you're lucky I was there in high school to babysit you. Thank mavis Lucy has that job now. I don't think I could've done it again after a six year break."

"Lucy doesn't babysit me! I can take care of myself" Natsu said as the waiter came and gave them your drinks.

"Are you ready to order?" the waiter asked.

"I'll take the porcini risotto and Caesar salad please" Lisanna asked.

"And for the gentleman?" he asked turning towards Natsu.

Cursing himself for not looking at the menu he went with the first thing to come to mind "Steak, the one with nothing but steak, 12 ounce and rare please."

"Okkk" the waiter drawled "We'll get your meal out to you as fast as we can."

"Thank you" Lisanna said before turning back to Natsu "I guess you're right, she just makes sure you don't end up killing all your students."

"Hey that's harsh; my kids are perfectly safe in my class!"

"How many kids went to the nurse yesterday?"

"Not that many" Natsu said as he stared at his drink.

"I rest my case" Lisanna said as she took a sip of her wine.

"You're terrible, you know that right?"

Laughing Lisanna replied "Yes I known, you don't need to remind me like you used to. It's kinda like old times hanging out here tonight."

That comment made Natsu freeze. Old times for them weren't exactly buddy-buddy. So if she was imply what she could possibly be implying then…

"Lisanna?" Natsu asked.

"Hmm? Yeah what is it?"

"Did you ask me here as a date?"

"Wha-What would give you that conclusion?!" Lisanna squawked.

"You said this reminded you of old time."

"Natsu geez, really? That's why you think this is date? Listen-" Lisanna began before natsu interrupted her.

"Lisanna, I know we dated when we were in high school, but when we broke up, I broke up with you with the intention of never getting back together. I mean I liked you and all, and I still do, but not like that. And even if you still like me now and wanted to get together, I would have to say no because I love somebody else and-"

"Woah, woah, woah, slow down" Lisanna said waving her hand "You sound like fool right now, geez. Natsu, what the heck would make you even think I would want to get back together with you; it's been years since then. Trust me I've gotten over you. Yeah I was heartbroken when we broke up, but it was all for a good reason, I got over you a long time ago. And trust me I know you're in love with someone, everyone and their mom knows you're in love with Lucy" Lisanna said. Natsu could feel his face heat up at her last comment. "Except for Lucy herself" Lisanna added teasingly.

"So, the only reason you asked me here tonight was to catch up?"

"Yes and no" Lisanna answered.

"Yes and no? So what's the other reason you asked me to dinner."

"Welll you see, I haven't gone on a date in years, and I kinda want to ask this guy out and-"

"I can't believe this! I'm your practice date" Natsu guffawed "I'm so honored."

"Oh shut up. Think of this as a practice date in case you ever grow the balls to ask Lucy out."

"That's harsh" Natsu said acting wounded "I can ask her out whenever I want."

"Then why haven't you?" Lisanna asked slyly.

"Uh, well, you see" Natsu stuttered.

Laughing Lisanna said "Don't answer that, I already know. I just enjoy seeing you squirm."

"So mean, anyway do I know this guy you want to ask out?" Natsu asked.

"Wha- no!" Lisanna said as she tugged on the ends pf her hair.

"Does he work at Fairy Tail?"

"No!" Lisanna aid continuing to tug on her hair "And you would know him if you did you dummy!"

"So I know him and he works at Fairy Tail, who could he be?"

"I told you the opposite of that!"

"You were lying" Natsu said.

"How would you know that!"

"When you lie, you tug on your hair" Natsu replied with a grin.

Puffing out her cheeks Lisanna said "It's Bixslow."

"The weird psychology teacher? For real?"

"He's not weird, he just a bit different."

"I didn't know you went for those kinds if guys Lisanna,"

"I dated you didn't I?"

"Haha, you're so funny."

"I know" Lisanna said as their food arrived "Now dig in. Remember, everything you eat you pay for, this isn't a date!"

* * *

A/N: So as for the results it came to be...you'll just have to find out Friday when I post the next chapter and their introduced.


	10. The Student Teacher

As Lucy roamed the halls during her planning period, she cursed herself for being ahead of herself in grading and planning, if she was, then she wouldn't be heading to the gym. She had expertly avoided talking to Natsu's face since the incident the week before. Even though she had convinced Levy to talk to Lisanna about her outing with Natsu, she still rest easy. She knew it was incredibly immature and petty, but she couldn't get the images of Natsu and Lisanna as a lovey-dovey couple out of her head.

Pausing when she reached the gym door, she took a deep breath and opened the door. She was instantly hit with the smell of sweat and rubber; she had to admit she'd missed it just a bit. Her eyes searched until she found Natsu. He was talking to guy who looked a good few years younger than him; it must be the new student teacher Natsu had talked. Taking another few steps inside, she examined his appearance a little bit more and couldn't help but note that he looked like a blonde Natsu.

Natsu turned around and saw her standing awkwardly by the door. Sending her a smile he waved her over. Biting her lip she contemplated for a few seconds whether or not to walk over, but she knew she couldn't avoid him forever, that was the reason she had come to the gym in the first place!

"Hey, Luce! It's been awhile since we've talked face to face" Natsu said to her when she walked over.

"I know, the last time I saw your stupid face was last Thursday" Lucy teased, she had missed talking to him, curse her stupid imagination.

"Oi, my face isn't stupid weirdo" Natsu teased right back.

"Speaking of faces, who is the blonde guy?" Lucy asked pointing to the blonde, who was staring at her intensely, in confusion or interest, she didn't know. His cheeks turned slightly red when she pointed at him, opening his mouth it looked like he was going to speak, when Natsu slapped his hand down on the boys shoulder.

"This is the student teacher I was telling you about, name's Sting Eucliffe" Natsu said.

Holding out her hand, she smiled at the boy and said "Hello, my names Lucy Heartfilla."

Taking her hand and shaking it he replied "Nice to meet you Lucy."

"So I thought you said that there were two up for questioning?" Lucy asked Natsu.

"Yeah but" Natsu said as he rubbed the back of his neck "the other guy had a bit of a….bad background."

"Really? How bad?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He had like, six restraining orders against him."

"Actually seven" Sting butted in "A girl this year had to get one against him."

"Ah, so he was a creeper, got it" Lucy said.

"Yeah, so speaking of creepers" Natsu began.

"Please don't tell me you want to spy on Gray again, because this time I'm not going with you" Lucy said.

"What, no! I was going to ask if you wanted to go see this movie with me tonight?"

"Oh? What kind of movie?" Lucy asked.

"That one creepy one about guy who leaves presents on his neighbors steps and stuff and is kinda stalking the guy's wife."

"That creepy movie? Can't we see one that won't make me paranoid?" Lucy asked.

"I guess, it's not like I had my heart set on that movie. I just wanted to have some movie I knew of before I asked you if you wanted to go."

"Ok then, as long I get to pick it and you pay for popcorn I'll go" Lucy reasoned.

"Fine, deal" Natsu said.

"Holy mavis" Lucy said as she looked at her watch "I need to start heading back to my class, you better remember to pick me up this afternoon you idot!"

"Yeah, sure" Natsu called.

"You were right Coach" Sting said.

"Hmmm" Natsu asked with a raises eyebrow.

"She is pretty cute."

* * *

A/N: So yeah, Sting won 13 to 11.


	11. The Movie Date

After the final bell had rang and the final soccer kid had finally been picked up, did Natsu begin to think of the current dilemma he was about to face. He had asked Lucy on a date, well not exactly. They had gone together to the movies lots of times before, and he was pretty sure those hadn't been considered dates. But still, did Lucy think that he had asked her out on a date, he hadn't specifically said that, but Sting had been there and he just…

Speaking of Sting, the one comment he had made about Lucy had surprised him. Yeah he knew Lucy was cute, well he would have said gorgeous if he was judging, but the look on Stings face had almost been one of those who people described of love struck. And that unsettled him. Not that he felt threatened by Sting or anything, it was just that he wasn't sure if Lucy felt the same way about him.

But it didn't matter right now to think about that. He needed to go pick up Lucy before she kicked his ass for taking too long.

He had just gotten in his car, and was about to drive off, when the passenger door opened. Looking over he saw it was Lucy climbing in.

"Hey Natsu, you took too long taking your sweet time, so I came over here to find you myself" Lucy said as she situated herself onto the seat.

"Terribly sorry that Will's parents took too long" Natsu said sarcastically.

"He causes you so many problems doesn't he" Lucy teased.

"You better believe he does" Natsu replied before thinking back to the last time Will had ticked him off, the time he had almost, finally, kiss Lucy. But then the idot had to go and run into the wall.

The ride to the movie theater was filled with usual talk. How were the students, any crazy stories, the usual. Sometimes Natsu would wish that moments like these would never have to come to an end. When it just felt so right, just the two of them together, but all good things came to an end.

"Ugh" Lucy said, stretching her arms when they arrived "I'm driving on the way back, I'm not gonna have any more near-death experiences when you drive."

"Aww come on Luce, you know that if I don't drive I get real bad motion sickness" Natsu whined.

"Fine whatever, just don't weave between all the cars and ya know, wait for some space before you make a turn" Lucy answered, waving her hand at him.

"Yea, yea, it's not like I'm trying to kill you."

"Suuuuuure" Lucy drawled "Now then, let's go see what's playing. Remember, you're buying popcorn!"

"How could I forget" Natsu said as he followed her to look at all the movie posters. The only reason he had thought of taking her to the movies was because of that creepy movie. Gajeel had been telling him about one of his latest dates with Levy and how he taken her to see a creepy movie. All he had really got out of this conversation that apparently girls can be pretty cute when scared, and would most likely result to tactics like clinging to arms, or sitting closer to you. But he'd rather see her happy then scared, so it wouldn't be a big loss.

"Oh, oh, look at this" Lucy exclaimed, pointing excitedly at one poster.

"What is it?" Natsu asked, looking over her shoulder at said poster.

"I saw a commercial for this last night, it looks pretty good."

"Lucy, this is romance" Natsu pointed out.

"It's a romantic comedy. Please, it's based off of one of my favorite books, pleeease" Lucy pleaded, stinking her lip out and giving him the look she knew always worked wonders on him.

"Fine" Natsu said, he couldn't say no when she made that face and she knew it.

"Yess" Lucy exclaimed, grapping his arm and pulling him towards the ticket counter.

As he paid for the tickets, Natsu couldn't help but think that it was totally worth seeing this sappy movie, if Lucy looked that happy. Curse her for making him go soft.

* * *

A/N: So sorry for not making it longer. I was super busy this weekend and didn't get much time to work on it. I'm not very good at writing dates either, especially movie ones. So this was more or less an easier way of getting out of writing one.


	12. The Bike

"Thanks again for trusting me enough to drive" Natsu said sarcastically as he pulled onto Lucy's road.

"You're welcome. We've reached the stage in our relationship where I guess I should trust that you can drive without causing an accident."

"I have never been in an accident, I have an almost perfect record" Natsu said.

"Too bad those two speeding tickets just ruin it" Lucy responded "Anyway did you like the movie?"

"I don't know" Natsu said as he pulled up to Lucy's apartment building "I guess it was okay. You know I don't really like those sappy movies."

"Well I loved it. It was just so romantic, how they both loved the other but didn't think the other felt the same. And that wedding scene was just so…I don't even know how to describe it!" Lucy gushed.

"Yeah, yeah I get it. You loved it and you'll probably buy it when it comes out and make me watch it with you again.

"Heh, heh, yeah I probably will" Lucy said as she put her hand on the door and was about to open before she stopped herself. She needed to ask him the question that had been scratching at her mind ever since he had asked her if she had wanted to go see a movie together.

"Hey Natsu?" Lucy asked, turning back to him.

"Hmm" Natsu asked "What is it?"

"Is this" Lucy paused, biting her lip "Was this a….date?"

Natsu stopped all functions when he heard the question come out of her mouth. How was he supposed to respond to this? Tell her yeah, that he had been too much of a chicken to ask her directly? Or he could ask her what made her think that? Or….it was no use freaking out over this. So he chose to say the first thing that came to his mind.

"If that's what you want it to be than, yes" Natsu answered.

"Really?" Lucy asked, suddenly panicking over what to say back "How would you feel if I did want this to be a date?"

"Well" Natsu said leaning closer to her "I wouldn't have any objections."

"Oh" Lucy said leaning towards him.

"Do you not like that answer?" Natsu asked continuing to lean towards Lucy more.

"Wouldn't you like to know" Lucy smirked. Their faces were so close, that it would only take one of them leaning forward for their lips to touch and for them to finally get what they had wanted for years.

Natsu moved his hand to cup Lucy's cheek, while Lucy placed her hand on the back of his neck. There was no way this would get screwed up again. He could practically feel her lips on him and then…..

CRASH "What the fuck?!"

Turning their heads to look out the back of the car they saw nothing.

"We should probably get out and look" Natsu said hesitantly.

"Yeah probably" Lucy responded before opening the car door.

What the found didn't amuse either of them. Lying on the ground clutching his knee was none other than the bane of their existence, Will. Next to him was a bike, it pretty much explained what had happened a few seconds earlier.

"Oh shit, that was Coach Dragneel's car I ran into wasn't it?" Will asked when he saw them.

"Yeah Will, it was" Natsu said "So you don't just run into things when you run, huh? I fear for the day you get your driver's license."

"Heh, yeah. I wasn't watching where I was going because I noticed this cool bush and-"

"Nope don't say anything else, are you fine?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. My place isn't too far from here. Sorry again Coach" Will said before running off, wheeling his bike thankfully.

"So, he lives nearby?" Natsu asked Lucy.

"Yeah, he lives in the bakery next door. His parents own it and the top floor is an apartment" Lucy answered.

"Ah, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I am too" Lucy said. Well once again they had lost the opportunity of finally kissing the other. And once again, this was shattered by Will.

* * *

A/N: I would just like to thank everyone for the wonderful reviews and such. I really needed them to get me motivated to write this chapter.


	13. Break Room Gossip

Really Lucy should have been prepared for this. Gossip seemed to spread through the teachers faster than the students. But still, she stupidly walked into the break room Monday, completely unprepared for the attack that was coming at her.

"So Lucy, how was your date with Natsu?"

"Wha-"Lucy exclaimed turning to the left and seeing a smiling Cana staring back at her. "Cana! Don't just come up to me and say that without a warning!"

"Fine" Cana said, rolling her eyes "Hey Lucy, I'm about to make you tell me all the details of this date you had with Natsu."

"How did you know?" Lucy asked.

"Levy, duh. Now then, how could you not tell ME! I thought I was your best friend" Cana exclaimed before throwing her arm around Lucy "Now tell me all the dirty info!"

"I have no dirty information Cana, and it wasn't exactly a date" Lucy said.

"Yeah right, from what Levy told me it sounded like a date to me" Cana said rolling her eyes "It was a date for sure."

"Did someone say Lucy went on a date?" Juvia asked, suddenly appearing from beside Cana.

"Yeah but she ain't telling me any of the details" Cana told her.

"Who was it with?!" Juvia demanded.

"Don't worry it was Natsu, not Gray" Cana said "Lucy probably has a thing for with unreal hair, though I always thought she would go after a man with a nice package though who knows, Natsu's got a nice body, who knows what his di-"

"Cana!" Lucy exclaimed feeling her cheeks heat up "Don't you dare go there, if anything your describing yourself."

"Ah you caught me" Cana said shrugging her shoulders "But still, I bet that dirty mind of yours has thought about that before."

"Canaaa!"

"Fine, fine, just tell me all the details of this date and I'll shut up" Cana bargained.

"It's not like I wasn't planning on telling on you" Lucy huffed.

"Juvia wants to hear about this date too."

"We just went to see a movie" Lucy began.

"Did he put any moves on you?" Cana asked.

"No, then he drove me home and we sat in the car for a bit and talked-"

"About what?" Juvia interjected.

"The movie, then before I got out I asked him if it had been a date and he said it could be if I wanted it to be."

"Woah, I gotta give Natsu props, that was smooth" Cana stated.

"I thought you wanted to know what happened" Lucy said exasperated.

"I do" Cana huffed.

"Fine, then shut up. Anyway we just kept throwing questions back and forth about whether it was a date until…." Lucy said trailing off.

"Until?" Cana and Juvia asked in unison.

"Until we almost kissed" Lucy finished.

"ALMOST" Cana exclaimed.

"Are you saying you and Natsu didn't kiss?!" Juvia exclaimed "Juvia can't believe this! Juvia has known since the moment that Juvia saw you two together that you were in love-"

"Then why did you call me your love rival for the first few months, huh?" Lucy asked.

"To think that you two still haven't kissed! Juvia is outraged!"

"Uh huh, well so is Lucy" Lucy said.

"Geez, you two are going to have to do something about this terrible sexual tension of yours before you end up doing it at school" Cana said.

"Cana, don't' says those kinds of things, you're starting to sound like Mira!" Lucy yelled.

"I'm just saying, you two better deal with your issues before something happens" Cana said "Now, we'll have to resume this conversation later, I got some brats to teach Spanish too."

"Yes, we really should head to our classes" Juvia said "But Juvia wishes Lucy luck in her endeavors with Natsu."

Sighing Lucy felt defeated and tired already, and she didn't even get any time to make herself some coffee!


	14. Sick Day

Lucy felt absolutely miserable, and she blamed it on being around kids five days out of the week for seven hours. She hadn't been feeling well on Friday and now, on Sunday, she was a complete mess. Tissues were littered around her, she had yet moved from her bed and to make matters worse she was going to miss opening night of the Magnolia fair. She hoped Natsu would forgive her.

After having another sneezing fit that made her think she was going to sneeze her brains out, she rolled over and looked at her phone. She wasn't surprised when she saw that Natsu had texted her, he was probably asking her when he should pick her up for the fair. Unlocking her phone, she read the message and was surprised at what the text actually read.

"Heard from Levy that you're sick, on my way over."

Why had Levy told Natsu when she had specifically told her not to!? She didn't want him to miss out on opening night like she was, because knowing him, he would insist on taking care of her. Sure, she probably should have gotten something to eat by now, but still! She knew he would be here in seconds. She was coming up with some way to convince him she was fine when she heard her door unlock, sometimes she hated that she had given him a key to her apartment.

"Hey Luce! Levy told me you weren't feeling well, so I came over with…stuff!" She head Natsu yell after he came inside. She thought that maybe, if she stayed quiet, he would go away. But of course, he soon showed up outside her bedroom.

"Ah, so this is where you are" Natsu said, walking over to her and sitting on the bed.

"Why'd you come over?" Lucy asked.

"Isn't it obvious, I'm here to take care of you" Natsu said as he showed her a plastic bag "I brought some stuff that people say to give to sick people."

"I don't need you to take care of me Natsu, besides, the fair is going to be opening in about an hour."

"Sooo?" Natsu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sooo aren't you going to go?" Lucy asked.

"What, with you sick? No way" Natsu said before he began to root through the bag.

"What? You love going to the fair, you haven't missed a single opening day since you've lived here!" Lucy said flabbergasted.

"So what if I miss it" Natsu shrugged "You love it as much as I do but you can't go, so why should I?"

"You don't need to skip it just because you feel like you need to take care of me; if I need anything I can just call Levy. So go and enjoy the fair, and bring me back a funnel cake."

"I said I'm fine" Natsu insisted "Besides, I like going with you, it wouldn't be the same without you."

Lucy could feel her heart melting, god damn she wanted to kiss him! But alas she was sick, and she didn't want a sick Natsu on her hands.

"Ah hah" Natsu said pulling his hand out of the bag with what looked like a plastic container.

"What is that?" Lucy asked.

"This is some chicken soup I picked up on my way here, you give that to people when their sick, and I need you to get better by tomorrow."

"Oh, and why is that?"

"You're not abandoning me with those kids on that field trip tomorrow" Natsu told her seriously before he headed towards the kitchen.

"Don't burn the building down!" Lucy called after him.

"You got it!" he called back.

Sitting back on her pillows, she remembered how she did have to chaperone a field trip tomorrow. But they were going to the fair so it looked like Natsu and her would be able to go to the fair together, just not today.

"Hey Luce" Natsu said peeking his head into the room.

"Did you start a fire again?" Lucy asked.

"No, I was just going to ask if you wanted to watch something?"

"What's on?"

"Well there's some action movie on right now, but tonight's Game of Thrones sooooo."

"Yes, but you need to make popcorn before the Game of Thrones comes on" Lucy said.

"You're sick!"

"Sooo, if you're here I'm going to use you for popcorn needs."

"Yeah, yeah" he said as he walked over to her "Come on, open your arms."

"Why?" Lucy asked following instructions.

"Because since you're sick I'm going to carry you out" Natsu said as he bended over to pick her up.

"What?!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Too late" Natsu said, sweeping her up bridal style. Lucy let out a squawk before wrapping her arms tightly around Natsu's neck. All he did was smile at her and say "You haven't even moved from this bed today have you?"

"No" Lucy mumbled as he carried her out to the couch. She had to admit, she didn't mind, he was like a heater and she was freezing.

Setting her down on the couch he said "I'll be back with you soup in a second your highness."

"Excuse me?!" Lucy said as he ran off. Grabbing a blanket she wrapped herself up and waited for her soup.

"Here you go" Natsu said holding the soup out to her, after she took he flopped onto the couch.

"Do we have to watch this movie?" Lucy whined.

"Yes, I watch your romance movies, so you can watch my action stuff."

"But there's so much violence."

"Ok then, well eat your soup when those scenes come up."

"Natsu" she pouted before hitting him in the arm.

"Looks like the soups working" he joked before turning back to the TV. The movie didn't turn out to be so bad, but still, there was too much violence for her liking. So when he flipped to the channel that Games of Thrones was on, she was happy.

"Natsu, will you make popcorn?" Lucy asked.

"Sorry sick girl, I'm only letting you have liquids."

"You're so mean" Lucy pouted.

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too" Lucy said before shivering, even with the blanket she was still freezing.

"You cold Luce?" Natsu asked, concerned.

"Yeah, the blanket's not really helping."

"Ok then" Natsu said "I'll help keep you warm."

"Wha-?" Lucy began before Natsu threw his arm around her and pulled her close to him.

"You're always calling me a heater, so I guess it's time to live up to that expectation" Natsu said just as the show began. He was right; she was always calling him a heater due to the fact that he always seemed to be giving off heat, and he was right. She was already feeling warmer, snuggling closer to him, she rested her head on his chest before turning her full attention to the TV.


	15. Blossoms

Lucy sometimes forgot how much she hated to chaperone, but every time she went on a field trip, she was reminded of this hate. You'd think that she would be ecstatic about not being in a classroom and teaching all those kids, and the troublemakers. But Lucy always ended up with someone in her group that was a troublemaker, and would spend the entire trip making her question why she ever thought that being a teacher was her calling.

But at least she was going to be watching a group with Natsu, it's not like she could try to make moves on him during this trip, but she could use this time as time spent with him. She though instantly felt a sense of dread as she read over the list of students in their group, on the bus, with Natsu reading it from over her shoulder.

At first it looked like they had scored, all the kids at the top of the list were good kids, but then they reached the fifteenth name on the list. Before Lucy could even react to the name, she heard Natsu suck in air before mumbling "shit." Lucy could already feel her excitement about the day draining from her, for the fifteenth name on the sheet was Will Shechter.

Lucy groaned inwardly before continuing down the rest of the list, relieved to see the rest were all fine, at least in her mind. She did hear Natsu mumble Fritos as he was reading the names.

"Not a half bad group, right?" she asked him as they pulled up to the fair.

"Yeah, could do without a few though" he grumbled.

"And who would that be?" she asked him as they got off the bus.

"Will and Jasmine" he replied before he held up the piece of paper that said group four, the kids already knew what group they were in thankfully.

"Jasmine? What do you have against her?"

"Let's just say it had something to do with Fritos and her having an attitude."

"Oooo, I don't know this story, you'll have to tell me later."

"Sure, whenever you want, after we get this day over."

"Just smile and look like you're happy to be here instead of in school" Lucy said elbowing him.

Giving her the worst fake smile she had ever seen, he said "I'm just so happy to be here."

"Stop" she said slapping him "Think of the children."

"I am thinking of the children."

"Uh huh? Anyway, come on guys" Lucy said turning her attention to their group "We are going to stick in this group for the entire time, so now switching groups, that means you Jessica!" Lucy called at the girl who she already saw edging out of the group "Now I will let you guys decide where we go for today, so whenever you guys decide to go somewhere else tell us, got it?"

"Yes Ms. Heartfilla" they all an answered before going off to debate where to go first.

"I can tell they're already going to be perfect angels" Natsu said sarcastically.

"Oh shut up, you know you'll enjoy forcing me to ride all the rollercoasters and then barf on me after we get off" Lucy replied.

"I thought you said you brought my medicine" Natsu whined.

"I did you idiot" Lucy said, digging the pill bottle from her bag "Now take these before you ruin both of our days."

"What would I do without you Luce?"

"Probably barf on unsuspecting students" Lucy said sarcastically.

"We want to go on the rides first" said a student from the back.

"Ok then" Lucy said "Everyone meet back by this tree in three hours to decide where to go to next, ok?"

"Ok" came a few scattered response as they all ran off.

Sighing, she looked over at Natsu and asked "So what are you going to pick as my death first?"

Smiling at her he said "Vortex first."

"Same as every year" she said, shaking her head before walking with him over to the coaster.

After riding what felt like every rollercoaster in the park, Lucy was glad that soon she could move on to a calmer area, if only the rest of their group would show up!

"I swear, if there not back in two minutes, we leave them" Natsu whispering in her ear.

But, all the kids were back in two minutes so they weren't leaving any behind today.

"Ok guys, where to next?" Natsu asked.

There wasn't even a debate this time before someone said "The trees!" This surprised Lucy. While the main focus of the fair was the blossoming of the towns trees, only adults and young children tended to go look at the trees, so why the kids were so interested she didn't know.

"Will said he could climb the biggest one" called a voice from the back. Ah, that made much more sense. Lucy didn't even say anything, just followed them as they ran off to find the biggest tree.

"Well I say while they go off and try to kill themselves-"

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed.

"We look at the trees" Natsu finished.

"Fine, that's what I was planning on doing anyway." Lucy had always loved looking at the trees and their blossoms, Natsu was never as enthusiastic but he was nice enough to walk around with her as she ogled at the trees.

"Aren't the trees beautiful Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"I guess, I mean, as beautiful as trees can get I suppose" Natsu said.

"You have to admit their beautiful Natsu, come on, people come from miles to see them, that has to mean something."

"I've seen better" Natsu muttered.

"Really?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow "What then?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes" Lucy huffed as the wind picked up. She instantly forgot the argument when she saw the petals begin to fall. "Come on Natsu, you have to admit this is beautiful."

And for once on the beauty of the trees, Natsu agreed, but not for the reason she was giving. Lucy was practically glowing and with the flowers petals floating around her, she looked like something of a goddess. And the impulse to just run up and kiss her washed over him

"Hey Luce" Natsu said.

"What, ready to admit that these trees are beautiful?" Lucy asked.

"You're beautiful" Natsu said without even thinking, he just said it on impulse. Lucy felt her mouth dry and her cheeks heat up, did he really said what she thought he said? He took a few steps closer to her before cocking his head and asking "Can I kiss you?"

Lucy didn't even know how to respond. She opened and closed her mouth like a fish before nodding her head. Natsu didn't say anything before he cupped her face and brought it closer to his. Lucy swore that if some kid came around the corner she would kill them before they could ruin this moment again.

And finally their lips touched. Lucy felt her body heat up instantly before tangling her hand in his hair, pulling him closer to her. His lip weren't soft in the slightest, but she didn't care, all she cared about was that they were on hers and felt hot and so amazing.

She felt his tongue trace the outline of her bottom lip and granted him access to her mouth. He traced her mouth before poking her tongue. She happily took the invitation to join in as, doing the same to him that he had done to her.

When they broke apart they were both breathing hard, with blush dusting their cheeks. Leaning his forehead onto hers Natsu mumbled "Hey Luce, I-"

"Coach Dragneel, Ms. Heartfilla" yelled a voice.

Pulling apart from each other they headed towards the cry when a student rounded the corner "Will's stuck in a tree and we don't know what to do."

Both collectively groaned before following the student to the scene as Natsu pulled out his phone to call the fire department. Once again they were both cursing Will, but the euphoria of the kiss was enough for them to not hate him as much.

* * *

A/N: So yeah, after 14 chapters they finally kiss. I'm terrible with writing kisses so after re-writing it four times I decided it was good enough.


	16. The Stray

"Natsu" Lucy called with a raised eyebrow as she looked at the offending object.

"What is it Luce!" he called back while watching his students fail at playing soccer

"What is this I'm looking at right now?"

"What are you looking at that's bothering you so much?"

"I'm not really sure" she called.

"Fine, I'm coming! Kids, keep trying to play" he instructed before jogging over to Lucy. All Lucy had come to the gym for was to get the soccer balls out to the field and maybe sorta flirt with Natsu, I mean; they had just had a make-out session yesterday. Sure, they hadn't really talked about it, but still, flirting might bring up the subject.

When Natsu reached her, he about bent over laughing at the sight at what Lucy was freaked out by "Luce, that's a cat" he said pointing at what didn't look like a cat at all.

"No way is that a cat, it's so scrawny and has like, no fur" Lucy exclaimed while pointing at it.

"Trust me, it's a cat. It meowed" Natsu assured her.

"It's blue! Blue! What kinda cat is blue?! Not any that I know of!"

"Calm down, I found it out back this morning so I brought it inside. He's a nice little guy" Natsu said as the cat came up and rubbed against his leg. Dropping to the ground, Natsu began scratching it behind what Lucy guessed was its ear.

"Ok then let's say it's a cat" Lucy began.

"It is a cat" Natsu interjected.

Ignoring his comment, she continued "What are you going to do with it?"

"What do you think I'm going to do? Throw it back outside?"

"You aren't?" Lucy asked "You're keeping it?!"

"Yeah, I've been thinking about getting a pet for a while now, so it's like this is destiny."

"Oh no, I'm not allowing this" Lucy said, shaking her head.

"Who says that you have any say on whether I keep this cat or not?" Natsu asked.

"Because, you spend the 75% of your life outside of school, at my house or with me, so I think I should have some in this. I mean, you'll probably bring it with you whenever you plan on coming to my apartment."

"Aww, come on Luce, you know you love cats. Just look at its face" Natsu said holding the cat up and making a face to match the cat's. She had to admit they looked cute, especially Natsu. Really, wasn't her main reason for coming down here was to seduce him or something?

"You two are awfully cute, but I already have to take care of you, I don't need to take care of a cat as well."

"C'mon please" Natsu pleaded "If you don't then I guess that I'll just never send time with you ever again."

"I'm fine with that."

"You won't be able to use me as your popcorn slave."

"That's true."

"C'mon Luce, look at the face."

Biting her lip she gave in "Fine, I'll accept that I have another living thing to take care of."

"Yes" Natsu exclaimed before looking at the cat "Now, what shall I name you?"

"Natsu, shouldn't you be watching your cla-"

THUMP, CRASH! "Coach Dragneel!"

Natsu and Lucy both looked at each other in unison, Natsu shoved that cat into Lucy's arms before running towards whoever had just run into what.

Looking at the cat and shaking her head she said to it sympathetically "You're owner thank his lucky ass that'll I'll also be taking care of you, or else you'd end up like his students." The yet unnamed cat meowed happily at her.

* * *

A/N: Just a bit of a warning, Monday's chapter may be late.


	17. Student Gossip

"Does anyone know where Cindy and Will are?" Connor asked over the hubbub of the cafeteria.

Everyone at the table shrugged their shoulders. "I think he had to go to the nurse again" Ava said "So most likely Cindy's there yakking his ear off for being blind or stupid, or whatever the reason was this time."

"It was pure stupidity like always" said a voice from behind her.

"Yo Cindy, and the idiot" Connor said in greeting.

"Haha, very funny man" Will said before sitting down

"Sooo, how was gym?" Ava asked.

Sighing heavily as she sat next to Will, Cindy replied "Same as always. Will ended up doing some completely stupid and got himself hurt. So I had to go get him from the nurse and keep an eye on him until next period to make sure he doesn't have any brain damage. Though, I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a brain to damage."

"Hey" Will said defensively "You're looking at an A and B student."

"With a C in Spanish" Julia said under her breath.

"Whatcha say?"

"Nothing" Julia replied smoothly.

"So how'dya hurt yourself this time?" Jacob asked.

"Well you see, we were playing soccer, right? So I was minding my own business-"

"He was supposed to be paying attention because he was on defense" Cindy butted in.

"Shut up Cindy! Anyway so I was minding my own business when all of a sudden someone yelled at me to protect the goal, so I ran forward without looking and kinda stepped on the ball and tripped. Then I kinda rolled into the bleachers face first and uh, yeah" Will finished.

"How do you put up with him Cindy?" asked all the tablemates.

"I don't know" Cindy replied with a shrug.

"Hey!" Will exclaimed "You know you love me."

"I'd sell you to Satan for one corn chip" Cindy replied.

"CINDY!"

"Speaking of love" Ava began "Has anyone heard any news about Coach Dragneel and Ms. Heartfilla recently?"

"No way do the two of them love each other" Connor said.

"You're only saying that because you have a crush on Ms. Heartfilla" Jacob said.

"She has a nice rack dude" Connor replied.

"Ok then" Julia said "How about we talk about Coach Dragneel and Ms. Heartfilla's relationship, rather than her rack."

"I swear, they have to be dating or something" Cindy said.

"And what proof do you have to back up this claim?" Connor asked.

"Well, considering I've walked in on them about to kiss once. Plus Will says he always sees Coach Dragneel at her house on the weekends, said he almost saw them kiss and considering what I saw yesterday, I can safely say that they're probably dating" Cindy replied.

"Ohhh, what'cha see yesterday?" Julia asked.

"I didn't tell you guys?" Cindy asked.

"No" they all replied.

"You told me" Will said gloatingly.

"Yeah but you don't count" Cindy said "Any way, on the field trip yesterday, after Will got stuck in the tree I ran off to find Coach Dragneel and Ms. Heartfilla."

"We know all of this" Ava said exasperated "Get to the juicy parts."

"OK, so when I found them, they were totally making out."

"Really?" Julia asked "So for once Will didn't ruin it."

"Hey!"

"Not exactly, I mean I had to ruin the moment, but not the kiss. Anyway when I saw them I whirled around and hid behind the tree for a few seconds before yelling their names and running out from behind the tree" Cindy finished.

"Seriously Cindy, you had to interrupt them?" Ava asked.

"Yes, I couldn't just leave Will in the tree for the birds to eat him!"

"Awww, you do care about me."

"Don't look into it, your parents depend on me to make sure you make it home alive."

* * *

A/N: Sorry for posting this later than usual, but I didn't have any time edit it yesterday. Also, we took a break from our regularly scheduled program to look at everyone's favorite character, WILL!


	18. A Name

"I still can't believe you convinced me to do this" Lucy muttered as she avoided another attack from the cat, Natsu had the brilliant idea of bathing the cat. At her house.

"Oh come on Luce, he needed a bath" Natsu said as he poured some shampoo on the cat, what was it her shampoo?!

"Is that my shampoo?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"…..no?"

"Natsu!"

"I'll buy you a new bottle I swear" Natsu said defensively.

"You better, that stuff isn't cheap."

"Uh-huh, anyway, that should mean that it'll get rid of the smell."

"You better hope it does or that thing isn't allowed inside my home" Lucy warned.

"Aww, come on Luce, stop being so cruel to this poor animal."

"If anything, just having you as an owner should be enough cruelty."

"Hey! I'm good with animals" Natsu huffed.

"The goldfish?"

"We don't speak of that time!" Natsu yelled, pouring water over the cat.

"My point exactly" Lucy said, pointing to the drenched and shivering cat "You don't just do that, you drenched him!"

"See, you do care about the cat."

"Is its name going to be 'the cat'?" Lucy asked.

"No, I'm gonna think of a great name" Natsu exclaimed "Like Bone Crusher, or some cool dragon name."

"Really? It's a cat, I don't think any of your planned names will fit him" Lucy pointed out.

"It's my cat so I can name it whatever I want!"

"It's our cat since I know I'll need to feed it at least once a week."

"You have so little faith in me" Natsu said taking the cat out of the tub and grabbing one of the towels.

"The goldfish?"

"Shut up" Natsu said beginning to dry off the cat. "You had to have some animal as a kid, so you've had to have a pet die before. Like a fish, or a hamster, or even a lizard!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Listen, while you may have loved lizards as a child, I choose to avoid them" Lucy said "And no, I had no pets. My mom was allergic, and after she died well" Lucy said looking down at the floor.

"Luce?" Natsu asked worried, he knew that whenever she tended to talk about her family she would sometimes space out and get sad. Damn, why did he bring up her childhood, he was so stupid sometimes!

"He didn't want any pets, said they were a waste of time and would shed to much" Lucy finished before looking up "Hey you might want to check on the cat, you've been smothering him with the towel."

"Shit" Natsu said yanking the towel away from the cat.

"Already almost killing your pet, huh?" Lucy teased.

"Shut up, it's your cat too!"

"Uh-huh, so any name ideas?" Lucy asked.

"I already told you my name ideas" Natsu said "What, you don't have any?"

"Well I was thinking maybe Leo, or Aries, or maybe-"

"Woah stop right there, we are not naming our cat after stars" Natsu said.

"What!" Lucy squawked "Well I don't think we should name him any of those stupid and barbaric names."

"Well then, what do you want to name him that isn't related to stars, and don't think you can trick me because I've heard you talk about all of them" Natsu warned.

"Well then what name can we even agree on?" Lucy exclaimed before looking at the cat. Raising an eyebrow she said "Hey Natsu, look at him."

"Hmm?" Natsu asked before looking down at the cat on his lap, it almost looked like he was "Smiling? Does this cat look like he's smiling to you?"

"Yeah I know, that's why I told you to look at him."

"He looks happy" Lucy cooed as she rubbed his head.

"That's it!" Natsu exclaimed causing the cat to jump.

"What's it?"

"Happy, that's what we should name him."

"Really, are you sure?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, we can both agree on it right?"

"Well, yeah, it's not half bad. Plus it kinda suits him" Lucy answered.

"Exactly, so we agree that his name is Happy."

"Yeah, I guess we do."

"Haha, come on little buddy. Let's go to the pet store and buy you some food and stuff" Natsu said, picking up the cat who meowed back happily.

"I can't believe I own a cat named Happy" Lucy sighed.

"Hey Luce, since he's technically your cat too, does that mean you'll pay for half of the stuff?"

* * *

A/N: Hey, I just wanted to tell everybody that I won't be posting chapters next Monday and Friday due to school. But I promise that I'll be posting again the 18th.


	19. Morning With Idiots

When the alarm clock went off Lucy's eyes opened groggily as she fumbled around to silence the alarm. When the infernal beeping stopped she rolled out of bed and headed towards the kitchen to actually make some coffee for once. She had learned by now that getting coffee at work was a lost cause. When she passed her couch she paused and turned around. It looked like her eyes weren't fooling her, Natsu was lying sprawled out on her couch with the cat that had been recently named Happy, curled up on his chest. It looked like he had once again crashed at her place. Damn, now she had to hope that Will wouldn't notice and tell the whole school.

But she couldn't worry that much yet, she could barely remember why Natsu had even crashed here in the first place. Shuffling towards the kitchen she figured she'd feel a lot better once she had a cup of coffee in her hand.

As she stood waiting for her coffee she heard a crash from the other room and what sounded like a sound of a very unhappy cat. A few seconds later a half awake Natsu stumbled into the kitchen.

"Coffee" he grumbled.

"You'll get your coffee as soon as I get mine" she grumbled back. They waited in silence until the coffee dinged.

"Whoo coffee" Natsu cried half-heartedly as Lucy handed him a mug.

"You better enjoy this, the pot was supposed to be only for me, not something to share" Lucy muttered.

"Whatever grouch" Natsu said taking a sip of his coffee "I might not make you any eggs."

"Ohh you were actually going to make breakfast for once?" Lucy grumbled.

"I make you breakfast every time I crash here."

"Really, and I haven't died yet? And my apartment building hasn't burned down?"

"Hey, I'm a good cook."

"You've set off the fire alarms four times."

"Only two of them were real fires."

"Still" Lucy murmured as Happy trotted into the room "Hey."

"Hmmm, what?"

"What are we going to do with Happy?"

"Whatd'ya mean?" Natsu asked as Happy rubbed up against his leg.

"Well whose place is he going to stay at?"

"I….don't know."

"This is going to be a problem."

"Well I can take him, like you said I'll probably bring him over whenever I come over."

"True, but the goldfish-"

"Stop talking about him, it was a long time ago."

"Uh huh, anyway wouldn't it just be best if he stayed here? I have a bigger place then you anyway."

"True, I guess. It would give me a better excuse for coming over every day."

"Speaking of that, why did you crash here last night?" Lucy said, Natsu's previous comment not even affecting her.

"I didn't know whether I was supposed to take him home or leave him here, so I made up some excuse that I didn't think he would like being taken to a random house or something. I mean, he seems to like your place" Natsu said as Happy jumped onto the counter.

"Probably because he knows where I put the food" she deadpanned as she pointed to Happy who was scratching at the cabinet with the food in it.

"Maybe he's trying to tell you he's hungry."

"Ok then cat whisper, I'll feed the cat and you make us breakfast."

"Got it boss" Natsu said saluting her before turning around and rummaging through the fridge.

Shaking her head, Lucy swatted Happy away from the cabinet so she could grab the cat food.

"Come on, get down" Lucy said before walking over to the bowel that had been bought yesterday, she still couldn't believe that Natsu had conned her into paying for half of the stuff yesterday. Opening the can and plopping its contents into the bowel she muttered "Eat up" before turning around to face Natsu.

He was currently looking like he was going to be a safety hazard. He had the stove on and a pan in his hand. She could practically smell the smoke already.

"Natsu, is this really a good idea?"

"Don't worry about it" Natsu assured her "I'm making eggs and I need to cook them."

"Ok" Lucy said hesitantly "Don't burn down my kitchen."

"Yeah, yeah" Natsu said waving her away. Taking this as an opportunity to get ready and (hopefully) get a non-burned breakfast she went off to get ready for work.

When she came back into the kitchen she was happy to smell no smoke, "Hey Luce, the eggs are ready" Natsu waving the spatula at her.

"Great, I'm guessing you didn't burn them" Lucy commented.

"You better believe it, told you I was a good cook" he said offering her a plate.

"Uh-huh, I haven't tasted them yet" Lucy said, rummaging through a drawer looking for a fork.

"They taste great."

"Whatever you say" Lucy said turning around before freezing at the sight of what Natsu was doing "Use a goddamn fork you heathen, not my spatula!"

"What?" Natsu said before shoving another mouthful of eggs in his mouth using the spatula "It's kinda like a big spoon."

Throwing her fork at him, she yelled "Here use mine you animal!"

Grabbing it before it would hit him in the face, Natsu smiled at her and said "Thanks Luce."

"Don't mention it" she answered sarcastically before turning around and grabbing another one "Really, I would think by now you would have better manners."

"Using a spatula as a utensil is not bad manners, it's just not caring enough to get a fork. Besides, it's not like you were going to use again after I used it, so I'm just using it to its full capacity."

"Whatever you have to say to make you feel justified for what you did."

"I do it all the time at my place, so I don't need any justification."

"Make sure that if I ever cook at your place I never use you spatula."

"Got it!"

"Anyway, what are you going to wear to work anyway?" Lucy asked he wouldn't have any time to make it back to his place in time to change.

"I'll just wear what I wore yesterday" Natsu shrugged.

"Really, that's unhygienic. You sweated all day in those clothes" Lucy said scrunching her nose in disgust.

"Who am I trying to impress, anyway I can just take back that sweatshirt that you stole from me to put over my shirt. Then no one will know."

"I do not have a stolen sweatshirt of yours."

"Yeah you do, I've seen it in your closet and I've seen you wear it. So I'll just be taking it back."

"No, you can't have it" Lucy exclaimed, readying herself for a fight to her closet.

"Oh, and why not?"

"It's my favorite, I need to wash it" Lucy said beginning come up with random excuses.

"Well if you like it so much I'll just give it to you after work" Natsu said, edging towards the living room.

"I don't trust you" Lucy said, setting her plate on the counter.

"But if I get it before you" Natsu said before quickly sprinting towards her room.

"Natsu!" she yelled running after him. He made it to her bedroom before she tackled his legs and he came crashing down. "Ah ha" she said triumphantly before crawling over him towards her closet.

"Oh no you don't" Natsu said grabbing her leg and pulling her back. Jumping up he ran over and ripped open the closet door. Rummaging around the closet he hurriedly looked for the article of clothing in question.

"Rahhh" Lucy cried jumping onto Natsu's back.

"Get off me you leech" he said.

"Never!" Lucy cried.

"Ah hah" Natsu cried pulling out the sweatshirt "I win"

"Not if I can take it from you" Lucy said beginning to reach for the sweatshirt.

Holding it above his head he laughed "You can't reach it!"

"Yes I can!"

"Well we can't be having that" Natsu said, beginning to walk backwards.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting rid of the leech on my back" Natsu said stopping in front of her bed.

"No" she said gripping his back tighter "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me" Natsu said before falling onto the bed back first. Letting out a squeal Lucy clung to his back and prayed that she wouldn't be smushed.

Laughing as he rolled off her he said "I win."

"No you don't" she wheezed "You cheated."

"You cheated first" he said poking out his tongue "I didn't kill you did I?"

"Oh you're concerned now?" she asked.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"I hate you."

"I love you too."

"What?" Lucy asked sitting, she knew he was teasing but still.

"What?" Natsu asked looking at her, doing his best to keep himself calm because holy shit he just said he loved her and even if they were just joking around he had just said something to her that he had wanted to say for two years now.

"Uh nothing" Lucy said calming herself down, it was **teasing**.

"Anyway, I'll give the sweatshirt at the end of the day" Natsu promised as he tugged it over his head.

"Whatever" Lucy said "Give it to me with a new bottle of shampoo."

"Uhhhh."

"I'm not letting you off the hook for that one."

"Ok Luce, whatever you say."

As he was waiting for the bus, Will couldn't help but notice something interesting. Coach Dragneel's' car was parked outside of Ms. Heartfilla's apartment building. Normally he was never here this early to pick her up which meant…

Whipping out his phone he began to hastily text Cindy, she would really enjoy this piece of news.

* * *

A/N: So I'm back from my one week off. I tried my best to make this chapter a little longer than most, and I plan to make the next few chapters more than 1000 words.


	20. Plan B Can't Be That Bad, Right?

Lucy was prepared. After planning for two class periods, she had come up with the perfect date to finally tell Natsu how she felt. True she had only been motivated to finally tell him her feelings after the incident a few mornings ago, but it didn't matter what it took to get her to finally do this, but that she was. She hadn't told Levy about the love, and it seemed like Natsu hadn't told Gajeel because Levy hadn't come screeching her head off yet.

But she couldn't help but feel like Cindy knew something. There was no way she could know, but that day when she waked into class she had a knowing look in her eye

She had yet to have any students tease her so she had to be in the clear for now. And now, as she headed towards the gym, she was ready to ask Natsu out. Her plan was foolproof, ask Natsu to go watch her favorite play that was only playing Friday night, while the play wasn't really romantic, she figured she'd confess to him while watching the play or when they went back to her apartment.

Stopping at the door to the gym she took a deep breath, thinking of all the times she had stood here before readying herself in hopes of finally making a push forward in their relationship. And here she was three years later, finally going to do it.

Opening the doors she scanned the loud gymnasium for Natsu. She found him standing next to the bleachers talking to his student teacher….Sting, if she remembered correctly.

As she was walking over Natsu glanced up and waved at her, Sting turned around too to see who the new person was. When he saw it was Lucy he waved his hand in greeting, feeing a blush spreading on his face.

"Yo Luce, what's up?" Natsu said in greeting.

"Nothing much, just thought I would come and talk with you during my planning time. What're you making the kids do this time?" Lucy asked, looking over at the students who seemed to just be running around like headless chickens.

"Oh, you'll have to ask Sting. He's at the part where he has to start teaching the classes" Natsu said, gesturing at the blushing male with his thumb.

"I just told them a revised game of tag, it'll keep them busy for the rest of class" Sting said rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hmmm, is it safer then what Natsu makes them do?" she asked.

"Hey!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Yes, they should be safe. So far no one has had to go to the nurse" Sting said.

"I'm surprised Grandeeney hasn't come down yet to check on you" Lucy teased.

"She did" Natsu muttered.

"Oh mavis" Lucy laughed nearly bending over with laughter.

"Hey! It's not that funny" Natsu pouted.

"Suuuuuure" Lucy said "Anyway I need to ask you something?"

"Hmmm, what'dya need?" Natsu asked.

"I was wondering if you would like to go out with me Friday to see a play that's in town and maybe go out for dinner."

"This Friday, as in tomorrow Friday?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah, why?" Lucy asked suddenly concerned.

"Tomorrow's states for soccer."

"What, really?"

"Shit yeah, can we do it the next day?"

"The play is only for tonight."

"Shit, well I mean you can go see the play with Levy or by yourself right? Then Saturday we can go do something, right?"

"Levy had a date or something with Gajeel Friday, she's been talking about it all week and I already bought two tickets!"

"Mirajane?"

"Apparently she already had plans with her boyfriend."

"Lissana?"

"Going on her first date with her finally official boyfriend."

"Cana? Juvia?"

"They're going to some fair this weekend, they leave after school."

"Crap Luce, what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know."

"Umm I couldn't help but overhearing that you need someone to go with you to a play tomorrow Lucy" Sting said making the two realize he had still been standing there as they had continued their conversation.

"Uh yeah" Lucy said "I have an extra ticket to a play tomorrow."

"What play is it for?" Sting asked.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream."

"Really, that's my favorite play!"

"You like Shakespeare!?"

"Hell yeah, I started off as an English major before switching halfway through the year to physical education."

"Really, so you're interested in coming with me?"

"Sure, I'd love to see the play."

"Great, thanks a lot Sting you're a lifesaver."

"No problem."

"Anyway Natsu" Lucy said turning back to the pink haired man who almost looked like he was pouting "Your still fine with hanging out Saturday?"

"Of course Luce, I'd be going with you to the play if it wasn't for states" Natsu replied.

"I know" Lucy said "But you need to make sure that the team comes home with a trophy."

"Yeah I know, they boys have been working hard, they'll be able to win."

"Well I better head back to my room, I should start grading some papers if I'm going to have my weekend booked" Lucy said waving at the two before walking off.

"Are you ok with me going out with Lucy this weekend Natsu?" Sting asked.

"It doesn't matter what I think. As long as it's what Lucy wants then I'm fine with it" Natsu said, but he couldn't help but feel the desire to strangle the man next to him.

"Are you sure because I mean if we get along well I want to ask her-"

"Yeah I know kid, I have no opinion on the fact that you have a crush on Lucy" Natsu answered.

"Really, so you'd be fine if I asked her out?"

Clenching his teeth he answered "As long as it's what Lucy wants and it will make her happy then I'm fine with whatever relationship you have with her." Natsu knew he was lying, but he was pretty sure Sting didn't know that. He would just have to pray to mavis that Lucy had no interest in Sting or else he didn't know what he would do.

**The Next Day**

"You better not run into a goal or doing anything dangerous" Cindy nagged at Will as he tied on cleats.

"Calm down Cindy, I'll be fine. I promise I won't need the first aid kit but one time" Will said trying to reassure her.

"I feel so much better" she replied sarcastically as he stood up.

"Yeah I know, anyway are you sure you can't come?" he asked.

Rolling her eyes she said "Yeah, I already told you I have student government after school. But I promise that if it ends early I'll try to make it."

"Cool, I need my girlfriend cheering for me from the bleachers or else I'll look like a loser."

"Oh shut up" she said pushing him "You'd be a loser even if I was there."

"So cruel you are" he said gripping his chest.

"You guys better win, and you better make the winning score."

"Oh, and why's that?"

"So I can brag to the other girlfriends about it" she said before leaning over and kissing him on the cheek "No run off and don't embarrass me more than you already do."

"You got it" he said before quickly bending down and giving her a peck on the lips and running off to the bus. As he climbed on he heard the usual jab of sap and the kissy noises, well it wasn't his fault he was the only one on the team with a girlfriend. Even if she refused to acknowledge it sometimes.

* * *

A/N: Anyway as a way to make up for the lack of Nalu in this chapter and the next I added some Will and Cindy. Did you guys know they've been dating this entire time? Good me neither, I didn't realize people would ship them. And I just find it super funny because Will's based off my brother and Cindy's based off my friend. Can't wait to tell them about it.


	21. Sting Questions HIs Life Choices

Looking over herself in the mirror one last time, she decided that what she was wearing was fine, no point in worrying over what to wear when all she was doing tonight was going to see a play with a colleague. Passing by Happy she petted him on the head before picking up her phone and sliding it into her jacket pocket. Locking her door before she headed downstairs to wait for Sting. He had offered to drive her, which Lucy was thankful he had. She didn't own a car and hadn't really wanted to brave public transport to get downtown.

When she stepped outside she was surprised to see that Sting was already there, she was too used to Natsu being ten minutes late to everything. When he saw her he smiled and waved at her. Returning the smile and the wave she headed towards him.

"Are you ready to go see one of Shakespeare's best plays?" He asked opening the car door for her.

"I wouldn't say that, many believe it was Hamlet" she responded.

"And do you agree with them?"

"Well, I don't think A Midsummer Night's Dream is the best of his plays" Lucy answered before closing the door. Watching as he made his way around to the other side, she couldn't help but laugh at the look on face, he looked like he was pouting.

When he got into the car Lucy asked "So you never got to Shakespeare before you changed majors?"

"No, I changed halfway through it" he huffed "All the comedies and stuff were great but then we got to Romeo and Juliet and…"

"It's okay, a few guys in my class changed when Romeo and Juliet started, I never figured out why" Lucy said tapping her chin.

"I just never got it, the whole killing yourself because they person you've known for like four days is dead. That's when I figured out I wasn't cut out for literature. I found teaching kids how to kick a soccer ball much more fun" he said as he began to drive.

"You know where to go right?"

"Yeah, one of my roommates is an English major. She drags me and the others along all the time to watch the plays" he said while rolling his eyes.

"How many people do you live with?"

"Three others" Sting answered "Sometimes it's a handful to deal with them."

"Are they all in college as well?"

"Yeah, we all met in our first year and kinda connected and stuff. So by our second year we thought we should share an apartment, I think that was the worst idea I've ever agreed to."

"They can't be that bad" Lucy said.

"That's what you would think, but Yukino, the one who's an English major, is literally obsessed with Shakespeare so we always have one of his plays on the TV and if anyone tries to change she like flips out and says she's studying. And she does this like every night" Sting said waving one of his hands in the air while talking.

"Everyone has their quirks" Lucy said as she grabbed his wrist before his hand hit her.

"Oh, sorry" he said as his neck began to turn red "Anyway Rogue forgets to pay the electric bill all the time, so we end up in the dark for like a week while we try to scrape together enough to pay for and he says to not pay it, that he prefers to live in the complete darkness. And don't even get me started on Minerva" Sting finished as they pulled into the theatre.

"Ah were here" Lucy said before digging into her jacket for the tickets. Pulling them out she waved them and said "Now let's go see this play."

"Ok, I'm ready" Sting said before the two got out of the car and headed inside. Handing the tickets to the lady at the ticket booth, the two looked around until they picked seats.

"You want me to go see if there's any food?" Sting asked as Lucy sat down.

"Hmmm, if you find a concession stand can you get me soda?" Lucy said pulling out a five dollar bill.

"Sure" Sting said "But I'll buy it for you, it's only a soda."

"Oh, well thank you" Lucy said surprised before putting the money back in her pocket and settling into her seat. Feeling her phone vibrate she took it out to see who was texting her. When she saw that the message was from Natsu she couldn't help but wonder why he was texting her, shouldn't he be more worried about how his team was going to do? Opening her phone she read the message.

_"__Games about to start, hope you have a good time watching your play."_

Smiling, she was happy to see that he had thought to text her. Even though her plan was ruined, she could always just tell him tomorrow when they went out together…where ever they were going. Knowing Natsu he'd probably take her to that new bowling place. He had been trying to talk her into it for weeks but she had always told him that she was not stepping foot into a shoe that some unknown person had been wearing.

The lights were beginning to dim by the time Sting came back, handing her a drink he said "I see I got back just in time."

"Yeah" she said "Now sit down, it's about to start." It turned out to be well down, except for when Oberon forgot his first line. Lucy couldn't help but think of what Natsu would've said about the costumes. He probably would've burst out the minute someone stepped out and embarrassed her. Still she would've had a lot more fun if Natsu had been there. Sting had stayed silent the entire time and she wished he had made some comments.

As they walked out Sting asked "You wanna get something to eat?"

"Huh?" Lucy asked in surprise "Uh sure, I guess you really don't want to get back to your roommates huh?" she teased.

"Yeah, you could say that" Sting answered "So where do you want to go?"

"The first food place we drive by."

"I take it you pretty hungry" Sting said amused.

"Yeah, kinda" Lucy said shrugging her shoulders, she wasn't that hungry. She had just answered the way Natsu always did when she asked him that same question.

The next place that served food turned out to be a McDonalds, so it was decided that they would just go through the drive-through and not suffer sitting inside with ten families. So after ordering they parked the car and handed out food accordingly.

"So" Lucy said after taking a bit of her burger "You've never finished complaining about your roommates."

"Really?" Sting asked, already halfway through his burger.

"Yeah, you stopped at Mindy or something" Lucy answered.

"Oh Minerva, she's a special case actually."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I actually knew her before college. We went to the same school from sixth through tenth grade" Sting said getting a far off look in his eyes.

"Really, so I guess meeting up with her again during collage was great" Lucy said.

"Actually she was a total bitch" Sting said, his face hardening.

"Really?" Lucy asked, continuing eating her burger as she listened to the story.

"Yeah, she was mean to everybody. She saw everyone as beneath her because her father was the mayor. I tried to be nice and befriend her until ninth grade. She dated my best friend for a week only to break up with him and loudly declare that it was only a dare. He ended up transferring schools because of that. But then" Sting continued his expression softening "Her father was caught in the middle of an affair with his secretary. Her father and mother got divorced. Her father resigned from office because of the low ratings and the terrible publicity and moved him and Minerva away. I'll always remember how she looked those last few days. Her friends and the entire student body seemed to turn against her. I told myself that she deserved it but really I couldn't help but feel bad for her."

Nodding her head Lucy couldn't help but feel kinda bad for this Minerva chick, she knew how it could be when a parent was influential like hers.

"The when I saw her again I almost couldn't believe it. But then she came up to me and began to make a conversation and we just started hanging out. She's actually the one who I would be the least likely to murder in a fit of rage."

"Well" Lucy began as she shoved the burger wrapper into the bag "Roommates are kinda crazy, especially if you have three."

"Yeah I guess you're right, she's kinda crazy like the rest" Sting said before finishing his burger.

"I'll throw the trash away" Lucy offered holding out the bag "The trash cans right next to me."

"Huh, ok then" Sting said "You ready to go home."

"Hmm, oh yeah. In fact, I wonder if Natsu texted about how the soccer team did" Lucy said as she got back into the car. Taking out her phone as Sting began to drive back towards her apartment, she saw that Natsu had texted her. Unlocking her phone she read the message.

_"__We won! Gonna treat them to pancakes tomorrow morning but I'll go out with you later in the afternoon."_

"So how'd they do?" Sting asked.

"They won, Natsu's pretty excited for sure" Lucy answered smiling at the thought of Natsu trying to control twenty some kids tomorrow at a pancake house. She could almost hear the call of plea that he would probably do tomorrow in hopes of convincing her to come and help control them.

Not much else was said for the rest of the ride, and when they reached Lucy's apartment building Sting walked with Lucy up to the door.

"Well I had a good time" Lucy said as she reached the door and began to search through her pocket for her key so she could already have it out.

"So did I, I hope we can do something else like this again" Sting said feeling his face began to heat up.

"Maybe" Lucy hummed as she pulled out her key and looked up, but what she saw was something she did not want to see at all. Sting was leaning towards her and his eyes were closed and his lips were puckered. Lucy began to panic, this was something that she had not think would've happened. This was supposed to only be a friendly thing, not a date!

Fumbling behind her for the door knob, she turned her face to the side and almost cried out in delight when she found the doorknob. Quickly opening the door she backed inside so Sting's lips met air.

"Umm yeah, this was a great time between **friends**" she said quickly before turning around running up the stairs, leaving behind a very embarrassed Sting.

When she reached her apartment she fumbled with her key until she finally unlocked the door. Slamming the door behind her she slid down the door. She felt so stupid, she had almost got kissed by a guy that was not Natsu and Will lives right next to her and if they had kissed then the entire school would've known by Monday and oh god.

Hearing a purr she saw Happy walking over to her. Scooping up in her arms she said to him "Do some guys just not get that going out somewhere with a girl you know does not equal a date?" Kissing the top of his head he carried him into her bedroom while scratching his ear. Setting him down on her bed, he instantly began to curl up in a ball. Looking over at her phone she noticed that is said that she had a message. Sitting on her bed she pressed play and wondered who would call to this phone to get in touch with her.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid" Sting muttered each time he hit his head against the steering wheel. Resting his head on it he regretted everything he had every done. He really should've known that Lucy had not felt the same about him or have any affections towards him.

A blind person could see that she had a thing for Natsu. But he had secretly hoped that maybe for once he could've gotten the girl. Maybe he should just drop out of school and become a priest; they didn't ever have to worry about getting a girl.

Sighing he turned on the car and began to head home with his tail between his legs. Maybe today the others wouldn't be crazy, but that would be the day. He was contemplating the benefits of becoming a priest were when his phone went off.

Grumbling he answered "Yo, this is Sting."

"Hey Sting, yeah I need a favor" came a melodious voice from the other end.

"Minerva? What do you need?" he asked suspiciously.

"I need you to stop by the store and buy a thing of ice cream kay, thanks!" Minerva said.

"What do you need ice cream for?" Sting exclaimed, and why was it always him running these errands.

"Well Yukino passed that wicked hard test she took the other day so we celebrated with ice cream, so now we have no more" Minerva said simply.

"Ugh whatever" Sting said tightening his grip on the steering wheel.

"Or am I interrupting something, is Sting gonna get laid?" Minerva teased.

"Far from it, I think I just ruined what could've been a decent friendship if I didn't have a dick."

"Oh poor baby, well then I guess we'll use this tub of ice cream to listen to you tell us about this failure of a date."

"Minerva" Sting warned as he turned into the store parking lot.

"Ok, ok I got Mr. Grumpy Gills. I swear I try to help you and this is what I get."

"Uh huh whatever, I'll be back in like ten minutes" Sting said as he got out of the car.

"With ice cream for your problems" Minerva added.

"With ice cream for my problems" Sting replied before hanging up.

* * *

A/N: Ok I just want to say before someone says anything about Minerva being OC just read the latest chapters, it looks like she's not a total bitch anymore.


	22. Unexpected Events

As Natsu stood in the middle of a sea of high school boys he regretted his promise of taking them out for food. They were probably going to cost him his paycheck for the week, well it's not like he needs to eat. They probably didn't know what "you can only spend up to ten dollars" meant. As usual they sounded like 100 people instead of twenty one, and it looked like the tired lady at the register agreed when she sent him a glare. If he didn't calm them down then it would be another place that he was never allowed back in because of them.

Deciding that he would have to suck in his pride and resort to begging would be his best option he pulled out his phone while keeping an eye on the price of taking them out rise steadily, he quickly called his savior.

When he heard Lucy pick up he let out a sigh of relief before quickly saying "Thank mavis you picked up, anyway I really need your help to help control these guys."

She was quiet for a second for responding "Sure I'll be there in ten" and then promptly hanging up. It more or less left Natsu stunned, he normally had to beg her to get her agree to help him control teenagers on the weekend. Plus she hadn't really sounded like herself, maybe it was just because he had woken her up or something. But still she had gone out with Sting the night before.

Feeling a flare of anger Natsu swore that if he had done anything to her that he would find him and pound him into the ground.

When he saw that the final one had ordered he quickly pushed his way to the front and ordered two more orders of pancakes before paying. His bank account was practically crying but at least Lucy wouldn't be making him cry for not buying her food.

"Ok guys" Natsu said clapping his hands together to get their attention "Now where going to wait quietly for the food and when you get it go sit in that corner" Natsu said pointing to the far corner "and eat. If you don't follow these rules then I will have Cindy" he said gesturing over to the poor girl that Will had somehow managed to corral into coming "punch you in the face. We all clear?"

"Yes" they responded in unison.

"Good, now Ms. Heartfilla will be here soon to help me, if I hear any joke or comment, Cindy will punch you in the face two times."

After he finished Cindy raised her hand. "What do you need Cindy?" Natsu asked.

"Can a punch Will in the face?" she asked.

"Hey" Will exclaimed.

"Umm sure, but why?" Natsu asked confused, the last he had checked apparently the two were dating. He had no idea how Will, the spawn of Satan, had managed to get a nice girl like Cindy.

"Because he made me get up early today to come here and eat pancakes with these heathens" Cindy said, obviously tired and exasperated.

"Uh ok then, just don't hurt him too much" Natsu said before turning to watch the others go up and get pancakes. All he heard was Will yelling ow and then him mumbling to himself.

Right after the last guy to their pancakes did Lucy arrive, and Natsu hated to think it but she looked like a wreck. Her eyes seemed red and puffy, and she looked like she hadn't had any sleep.

"Hey Luce" Natsu greeted her before handing her a plate of pancakes.

"Hey Natsu" Lucy answered mustering a smile "You didn't need to get me food."

"Sure I did" Natsu said "If I didn't you would've called me cheap or something."

"Yeah I guess" Lucy sighed.

"You alright Luce?" Natsu asked as he lead her over to where everyone was sitting.

"Oh yeah, perfectly fine" Lucy said before sitting down, but she sure didn't look perfectly fine, heck she didn't even look close to fine.

"Well you sure don't look that way" Natsu stated as he sat next to her.

"I just didn't get much sleep last night" Lucy answered as she stared down at the pancakes.

"Did Sting try anything on you?" Natsu asked hastily.

"What, no. I told you I just didn't get much sleep" Lucy said firmly before picking at her pancakes.

"Ok then" Natsu said looking at her worriedly before turning to eat his pancakes.

"Looks like trouble in paradise" Matt snickered to his tablemates.

"Do you remember what Coach Dragneel told me to do if anyone made comments about Ms. Heartfilla's and his relationship?" Cindy asked.

"Oooo I'm so scared" Matt mocked putting his hands up.

"You better be" Will said "She'll deck you."

"Oi, I'm not whipped like you are."

Kicking him under the table, Cindy couldn't help but smirk when he immediately let out a yelp of pain before saying "It's obvious that Ms. Heartfilla was probably crying before she came, but most likely it had nothing to do with Coach Dragneel. Now hurry up and finish this sad excuse of a celebration so he can talk to her."

When the last kid had finally headed home did Natsu turn and take a good look at Lucy. She no longer looked as bad as she did earlier. But he could still see the sadness in her eyes and that the smile was fake. She obviously hadn't felt like telling him about it in front of other, but maybe when it was just the two of them she would be willing to tell him.

"Hey Luce, how'd you get here?" Natsu asked.

"I called a taxi" Lucy replied.

"See, now aren't you happy I paid for your breakfast. You had already spent a decent amount on a cab."

"Yeah I guess" Lucy said shrugging her shoulders.

"So you want me to take you home?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah sure, that be great" Lucy said giving him a smile that looked like it was hurting her to perform.

While the drive to her apartment was absolutely quiet, Natsu was preparing himself to the task of asking Lucy what was going on. She was always the most sharing person on how she was truly feeling; she tended to push it all down until she exploded.

Pulling up to her apartment he turned to her and asked "Hey Luce, you sure everything is okay? You didn't look that good earlier."

"Natsu did you just insult me on my looks?" Lucy asked with a tone of annoyance and a raised eyebrow.

"Wha-no way Lucy, your beautiful, best looking girl in town!" Natsu said quickly trying his best to appease her anger.

"You better believe it" she muttered before looking down at her lap.

"Lucy, you know you can tell me anything, right? I'm your friend, sticking with you through thick and thin. Please just tell me what's obviously got you so upset" Natsu pleaded, putting his hand on her shoulder.

Biting her lip, thinking over if she should tell him about the phone call from last night. He would find out eventually, but he would hate it if he found out through someone else. Taking a deep breath as she held back tears she asked "Can we do it inside my apartment at least?"

"Huh, of course Luce, whatever makes you feel more comfortable" Natsu answered before the two of them headed towards Lucy's apartment. The minute she opened the door Happy greeted the two them with loud purrs.

"Did I forget to feed you Happy?" Lucy asked as she set down her keys before scratching his ear.

"Geez I think he's more your cat then our cat" Natsu mumbled.

"Sit down" Lucy said pointing at the couch "I'll feed Happy and then we can talk." Natsu walked as she walked into the kitchen before sitting on the couch. He noticed the tissue box that was empty on coffee table. So it looked like she had been crying at some point before he called if she had emptied an entire tissue box and hadn't replaced it.

When she came back Natsu scooched over and patted the spot next to him. She rolled her eyes at him before sitting down and clasping her hands tightly.

"So I got a phone call yesterday while I was out" Lucy said avoiding looking at Natsu "So when I got home I was surprised to see a message on that phone so I obviously listened to it because I was curious" gulping she continued "It was a message from one of the people who worked for my father. They had called to tell me….to tell me….tell me" Lucy said begin to gasp and feeling the tears come back once again. Taking deep breaths she tried to calm herself down; she didn't want Natsu to see her like this, a total wreck.

Feeling a strong arm wrap around her shoulders before wrapping around her side, she looked over at Natsu and saw that his eyes had softened.

"It's okay, if it's too hard you don't have to-"Natsu began trying to calm her down.

"No, I need to tell you" Lucy said, taking another deep breath before continuing softly "My dad he, he, he passed away."

"Luce" Natsu said quietly, tightening his grip around her "I'm so sorry."

"No, no don't be. The two of us had a terrible relationship and" Lucy said continuing to hold back sobs.

"That doesn't mean that you're not upset, that you didn't care about him. Lucy don't hold all this in, you need to let it out. Don't bottle up your emotions."

"Bu-but" Lucy said beginning to gasp again as she felt the tears return "I'm not crying be-because I'm s-sad that he died. I'm crying because th-the irony is we hated each o-other and I wanted to f-fix our re-relationship bu-but now he's dead and" Lucy sobbed before crumpling into tears.

"It's ok Luce" Natsu said comforting her "Just let it all out." As she buried his face into his shoulder, tightening his grip around her Natsu muttered "It's gonna be all ok."

* * *

A/N: Ok I need to ask everyone's opinion on what I should do in the next chapter that will affect how the rest of the plot will go. Should Lucy ask Natsu to go with her to her father's funeral and if so what should his answer be. I'm not going to be posting the next chapter until Tuesday due to a very important test I have Monday so I need to study.


	23. Preparations

"So" Natsu said a few minutes, later breaking the silence "Is there going to be a funeral?"

"Huh?" Lucy sniffed before registering what he said "Oh, yeah. Virgo told me that it's scheduled for Monday, I guess I better take off work for a few days and go."

"Who's Virgo?" Natsu asked staring absentmindedly at the wall.

"Oh, she's one of the maids that works-used to work for my father" Lucy said catching herself at the last second.

"Well I guess I'll be meeting her than."

"What?" Lucy asked dumbfounded, he isn't hinting what she thinks he is.

"If you think I'm going to let you go there by yourself than you're crazy" Natsu said firmly, staring at Lucy watching for a reaction.

"Wha-what are you talking about" Lucy sputtered "I don't need you to go with me Natsu. I'm perfectly capable of going there by myself."

"But do you really want to go by yourself?"

"Well, I mean I don't really even want to go. I haven't shown my face there in years, I'd be so out of place and-and-and" Lucy said beginning to stutter again as she felt tears once again fall down her cheeks.

"Calm down Luce, take deep breathes. I just think you might want someone there that you know to support you" Natsu said giving her shoulder a supportive squeeze "If you don't want me or anyone for that matter to go with you, just say."

As Lucy sat still curled up next to Natsu's side she thought over whether she truly wanted to go back to her childhood home by herself. The last time she had been there she had sworn never to return. But here she was going back to attend her father's funeral, it was almost laughable in sense. In fact this entire series of events seemed almost laughable in a way. It seemed that fate tended to have a grudge against her.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to go by herself. Having Natsu by her side would make her feel at least safer from the prying eyes of the others who had been invited.

"Yes" Lucy mumbled still in thought.

"Huh, whatcha says Luce" Natsu said drawing his attention to the girl.

"Huh, what?" Lucy asked slightly dazed.

"Yes what?" Natsu asked with a raised eyebrow. Was she saying yes for wanting him to go with her, or yes for not wanting him to go.

"Oh, uh, yes. Yes, please accompany me to my father's funeral" Lucy said quickly feeling her checks heat up. What would everyone think of her coming home with a boy in tow? Not that she should be worrying about that, no one would probably even notice Natsu. They would probably all be impatiently waiting to see what they got in the will.

"No need to be so formal Luce" Natsu said rolling his eyes "I'd love to go with you to help you get through your father's funeral."

"Thanks Natsu" Lucy said giving him a small smile "Now then, I guess we should call and take our days off."

"Oh crap right" Natsu mumbled.

"You weren't planning on doing that were you?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Only because I forgot about that detail" Natsu said defensively.

"Have you ever taken a day off of work?"

"Uhhh" Natsu said while staring at the celling, trying to recall if he had ever taken a day off work.

"Never mind" Lucy mumbled before going back to her planning, while she could take time off for family emergency Natsu on the other hand….well it seemed that he hadn't taken off a single day of his life so it looked like he was good on that front. But getting there would be their next concern.

She figured that she could convince Natsu that they should take his car; it wouldn't be that hard considering his terrible motion sickness if he wasn't the one driving.

"Hey Natsu would you be fine driving?" Lucy asked turning to her friend who still seemed to be thinking about whether or not he had ever taken a day off in his life.

"Sure, I don't want you to make me take a train or anything" Natsu said before going back to his thoughts.

Well that was another thing covered. The only thing left to do was decided when they needed to leave, how long for and packing for the trip.

Virgo had said it was scheduled for three on Monday, and since they lived about eight hours away from the house then they would need to leave at seven at the latest. So she should probably tell Natsu that they would need to leave by six am Monday so they could leave on time.

They didn't really need to stay for more than one night, but she did kinda want to visit an old friend from high school. So she guessed that they should stay for two nights and one day. But then there was the decision of where to stay. She wasn't sure if they could stay at her father's house based on who got it. Plus she didn't really like the idea of staying in that house anyway. Sighing she realized that she would need to look up a hotel, curse Virgo for telling her this so late.

"Natsu" she said snapping her fingers in front of his face to bring him out of his trance, she said "We're going to leave at six am on Monday got it?"

"Huh yeah sure" Natsu replied.

"OK, now go call and take Monday through Wednesday off" Lucy instructed.

"You got it Luce" Natsu said before taking out his phone.

Now that she had Natsu set now she would need to do the same for her. Rubbing her temples she cursed under her breath. She now was feeling her hatred for funerals surfacing, but not for the same reasons as before.


	24. The Car Trip

Lucy was certainly surprised to say the least, or at least as surprised as you could get when it five thirty am and it was freezing cold outside. Natsu had actually come to pick her up on time for once. She stood dumbstruck; she probably would have been less amazed if she had actually slept last night. But she did have an eight hour car ride before her, Natsu would have to shut up at some point right?

"Hey Luce" Natsu said jogging up to her; how he was this energetic this early she had no idea.

"Hello Natsu, what's got you so perky?" Lucy asked as she picked up her bag and began to make her way towards the car.

As he turned around to follow her he replied "I had like three cups of coffee before driving over."

"You fine with stopping somewhere so I can get myself some coffee?" Lucy asked, reaching the back of the car.

Opening the trunk for her he said "Sure, I could use another cup myself if I'm going to be driving for eight hours straight."

"Ok then" Lucy said shoving her bag into the trunk before slamming the top "Let's begin this trip!" she exclaimed putting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah!" Natsu said raising his fist in the air.

Lucy had been prepared to have her ear talked off by Natsu, but as luck would have it, she slept through the first five hours of the trip. When she awoke she found Natsu drumming on the steering wheel while waiting for traffic to move.

"We in a traffic jam or something?" Lucy asked groggily stretching her arms.

"Ahh the sleeping beauty awakens" Natsu exclaimed taking his eyes off the road for a second to glance in her direction.

"Hahaha" Lucy said sarcastically "Did you ever stop and get coffee?"

"Huh, oh yeah. About an hour after you fell asleep" Natsu replied slowly inching the car forward.

"What?!" Lucy squawked in anger. She had been looking forward to, no had needed that coffee, and now she would have to suffer without caffeine for the rest of the ride.

"But" Natsu said in a pleased tone, almost as though he was bragging "I did get you coffee" Natsu said gesturing to the single cup in the cup holders.

"Really?" Lucy exclaimed grabbing the coffee.

"Yeah, it's probably not the temperature you like but its caffeine so…"

"You are the best" Lucy said before taking a sip.

"Can you say that again?" Natsu asked with a smirk.

"You are the best" Lucy said rolling her eyes before taking another sip, it was kinda cold but oh well. Coffee is still coffee.

"You better believe it!" Natsu said before yelling out a whoop, traffic was finally beginning to move at a steady pace once again.

"So how much longer till we get there?" Lucy asked.

"Really, you don't recognize anything?" Natsu asked.

"Natsu I haven't been home in years, of course I don't recognize anything! Why are we close?"

"Ehhh kinda, two hours away at least" Natsu said shrugging his shoulders.

"Really?" Lucy asked shocked.

"Yeah, we're gonna make good time" Natsu commented.

"At least that means we have time to stop at the hotel and drop our stuff off" Lucy said out loud tapping on the dashboard nervously. She really wanted nothing more than to turn around right now and head back home. What would everyone think with her returning all these years later only for her father's funeral. But what would they think if she didn't show up.

She didn't think she could go through with this. Tapping her finger quicker, she went through everything that could go wrong with this trip. Her father might not have even had a will for all she knew. Then SHE would most likely be the one who'd have to deal with all of that. But on the other hand there could be a will and that would most likely end up messy with who her father was friends with.

"Luce?" Natsu asked concerned, he had noticed her tapping and knew that whatever was causing it was not good.

"Hmm, what?" Lucy asked turning her attention to him.

"You okay, cause I mean you might just put a hole in my dash if you keep the tapping up" Natsu said looking at her tapping finer.

"Huh, oh sorry" Lucy said pulling her hand away "Yeah I'm fine, just a little nervous about heading home."

"You sure that's it Luce?" Natsu asked he knew there had to be more to it. Not just her being a bit uneasy about heading home.

"Yeah I'm sure" Lucy replied before turning to fiddle with the radio.

"Sure it's got nothing to do with your father's death and the fact that were heading towards his funeral right now?"

"Yes" Lucy muttered continuing to search for a radio channel that she liked. As important as Natsu was to her, she didn't want to burden him with anymore of her problems.

"OK, just talk to me if somethings wrong. We still have a bit of a ways until we reach the town" Natsu said hoping it would encourage her to talk to him.

"Got it" Lucy said finally stopping at a station.

Some new pop song began playing, filling the silence that had seemed to materialize.

Not too long later Natsu broke the silence when he muttered "Stupid pop music" and changed the station.

Lucy sent him a glare before changing it back to the other station.

"Driver picks the music" Natsu stated before changing it back to his station.

"Well I don't like your crappy music" Lucy muttered before changing it back.

"Are you sure your fine?"

"Yes, perfectly fine" Lucy hissed.

"Well you sure not acting perfectly fine" Natsu huffed.

"Maybe because someone keeps changing the station to his crappy rock music!" Lucy yelled throwing her arms up.

"Hey you like some of that music too!"

"So what if I like two songs or whatever, maybe I want to listen to upbeat music or something that's actually on the top 50 songs, huh?!"

"Well then just tell me that!"

"I don't see why I need to tell you that! When I woke up you weren't listening to anything" Lucy said sending him a glare before turning away to look angrily out of the window.

Sighing Natsu turned his attention back to driving, the best reason he could come with for this outburst was just that she was irritable about what she would have to deal with later today. They sat in silence for the next twenty minutes until Natsu caved.

"Sorry" he said looking over at her. When she didn't look at him he sighed and turned his attention back to the road before continuing his apology. "I know you're in a bad mood about what's going to happen in a few hours and I get that. But I don't want you to hold all your feelings in. I just want you to trust me enough to talk to me about how you feel" running his fingers through his hair he said "I really do care about you a lot Lucy, I don't want you to just bottle up all your emotions like your trying to do but I really am sorry about whatever I did that pissed you off so much, which I guess was changing the radio station?"

Looking over at him Natsu noticed out of the corner of his eye that she was crying.

"Shit Luce, mavis I really am sorry. It's just-"

"No, no" Lucy said shaking her head and whipping her eyes "You didn't make me cry. I should be the one apologizing. I really should talk to you about this. I just, I don't know" Lucy said leaning her head back against her seat "I just don't want to burden you with my problems."

"You're not going to burden me with your problems; I want to help you feel better" Natsu said.

"Geez, how do you deal with me Natsu?" Lucy asked running her fingers through her hair. She felt like a mess, she had just freaked out on her best friend because he had changed the freaking radio station. What was wrong with her?

"What'dya mean by that?" Natsu asked confused.

"I'm such a mess and yet you never seem to leave my side, why?"

"Because you're my best friend and you're important to me Luce, I love being a part of your life. And so what if it's a mess, that just makes it that much more fun" Natsu said sincerely.

Lucy felt her heart melt, how did she manage to get such a good friend like Natsu. With the way things were turning out, she'd probably end up falling in love with him even more while on this trip. That thought stopped Lucy's thoughts for a minute. Just a few days earlier she had planned on telling Natsu her feelings and now four days later she was not even close to that. But that wasn't a priority right now; she needed to just make it through this trip. And when they got back home, then she would think about how to confess to him. But until then, being friends would be fine.

"Hey earth to Lucy?" Natsu said.

"Hmm?" Lucy said whipping her head around to him.

"You ok? You were kinda spaced out there for a second" Natsu said worriedly.

"I was just thinking" Lucy said "So you think we'll be there soon."

"Yep, according to my phone we have an hour and a half" Natsu said giving her a bright smile.

"Did you break the speed limit while I was sleeping?"

"Maybe?"

* * *

A/N: Terribly sorry for the delay. Alot of things came up yesterday and Thursday and I was unable to finish and edit this chapter in time. I plan to make the next chapter much longer.


	25. Arrival, Old Friend, and Complications

"So, where's the hotel?" Natsu asked when he entered the town.

"It should be about two miles away, according to the directions on the website, it's the first hotel on the left side of the main highway" Lucy replied as she gazed at the streets, she was suddenly becoming overwhelmed by old memories. Some good, and some not so good.

Natsu watched her from the corner of his eye, while they had kinda talked; she hadn't really gone to in depth with her feelings. He understood that she was freaking out over what could happen at this funeral, but he believed that she would be able to make it through. Spotting a hotel he pointed at it and asked "That it?"

Glancing towards the hotel she nodded and said "Yeah that's it."

"Great!" Natsu said pulling in the parking lot, beginning to search for a parking spot. Lucy had choose to rent a room from one of the chain hotel, there was less a chance of her knowing whoever worked there. She had even gone as far as putting the reservations under Natsu's name as a further defense in her visit being practically unknown.

When Natsu finally found a parking spot (more like he drove past five good ones because he wasn't paying any attention) did Lucy officially set foot in her hometown. She had never thought she would ever be back in this town, but here she was. Grabbing her bag from the trunk she waited for Natsu to grab his and lock the car.

"So Luce, you ready for this?" Natsu said walking up beside her, giving her his most encouraging smile.

"As ready as I'll ever be I guess" she sighed before opening the entrance to the hotel. Leading Natsu up to the front desk she said "I'm checking in" to the girl who was sitting seemingly very bored at the front desk.

"Name?" she asked looking at her nails.

"It's under Natsu Dragneel" she replied tapping her fingers nervously on her leg.

"Here" the girl said sliding a pair of keys across the counter "Room 214."

"Thanks" Lucy said before dragging Natsu away from the mints that had been on the desk. She had spotted the scheming look in his eye, and if she had left him there he probably would have taken all the mints. For what reason, no one knew, except maybe Natsu himself.

As Lucy walked down the hallway searching for the room number Natsu asked "Why'd ya put it under my name?"

Not even looking away from the door numbers she replied "I can't even believe you were actually listening based on how focused you were on the mints."

"Hey they were the good kind of mints!" Natsu said in his defense before looking at the door numbers to the left in hopes of being semi-helpful in finding the room.

"There's a good kind of mint?" Lucy questioned out loud before spotting there room, grabbing Natsu by his shirt she dragged him over to the room and inserted the key into the lock "Anyway, I only put it under you name" Lucy said as she jiggled the key in the lock "So there was less a chance of someone recognizing me" Lucy said continuing in her struggle to get the door open "My last name is well known throughout town so someone would have most likely recognized me."

"Oh" Natsu said simply nodding in agreement before realizing she still hadn't won in her struggle against the door. "Need some help?" he asked gesturing at the door.

"Sure, give your best shot" she said handing him the key.

"Please, I should be able to open a door."

"Uh huh" Lucy said shaking her head. They only had a few more minutes until they had to leave for her father's house. Enough time to throw their bags on the floor and hopefully enough time for her to change shirts.

When she heard a click she looked over to see that Natsu had been able to open the door, giving her a gloating look he said "Told ya I could open the door."

"Yeah, yeah you win the prize" Lucy said patting him on the shoulder.

"Is that prize the bed?" Natsu asked as he looked into the room.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Lucy asked poking her head into the room. She then understood what Natsu had asked. For in the room there was only one bed. "What the hell?!" Lucy exclaimed as she walked into the room "There's no way this is our room, it's supposed to have two beds! That girl at the front desk must've given us the wrong key!" Lucy exclaimed stomping around.

"Woah, calm down there Lucy, I'll go and talk to her. You just sit here and cool off" Natsu said choosing his words wisely before bolting off to the front desk to get the answers Lucy desired.

Flopping down on the bed with a huff Lucy sighed and decided that she should at least change her shirt. Showing up in a Fairy High School t-shirt probably wouldn't go over well.

By the time Natsu got back Lucy had changed, and he was bearing bad news. "So apparently all the rooms with two beds are either taken or are being refurbished or something. She said you got a room that was the same price as the one you reserved" Natsu said waiting for Lucy's response; he figured he'd volunteer to sleep on the floor or something so Lucy could have the bed.

Sighing Lucy replied "I guess we'll worry about this after the funeral, now then if you're ready let's get going" standing up she began to walk over to the door before turning around to here Natsu's answer.

"Huh, oh yeah, I'm ready" Natsu said slightly taken back by Lucy's calm manner. He half expected her to go and demanded another room or something. But it looked like the only thing she was stressing about at the moment was the funeral. So he did something he did best, he followed her.

The entire car ride to her childhood home was quiet except for when she told him where to turn. He knew she was mentally preparing herself for what was to come, so he left her be. When he reached a gate he looked at Lucy with a questioning look, there was no way that they had an entire fence around the property.

Lucy just rolled her eyes and told him to pull up closer to the gate. When the front of his car nearly touched the gate, she rolled down her window.

Sticking her head out, she pressed the buzzer and waited.

"Heartfilla Residence, state your intention" came the voice from the box.

"We're here for the funeral" she said coolly, the voice wasn't familiar so it was most likely they didn't recognize her voice. Not a word was replied and the gate open.

"I realized that your dad was rich Luce, but wow I'm impressed" Natsu said as he drove towards the house, and he truly was surprised. He had expected a mansion or something, but not this. The house looked like two mansions had been stacked on one another and the yard seemed to do on for miles.

"Yeah well, it's not that big of a deal, it's was just a way for him to show everybody just how rich he was" Lucy mumbled as they pulled next to another car.

"Holy shit Luce, look at that car" Natsu said before quickly scrambling out of the car to get a better look at it.

Sighing Lucy followed him while muttering "This is going to be an eventful trip if Natsu spends the entire time gawking at everything" turning her attention towards him she said "Natsu stop drooling over the car, we need to find out where they're holding the funeral."

"'Kay Luce" Natsu replied before looking at the car one last time before running next to her. Throwing his arm around her shoulder he asked "So you ready Luce?"

"Yeah, I already told you I was" Lucy said contemplating shrugging his arm off, while it's not like she disliked it being there, in fact she quite liked it. But still…Shaking her head she decided damn her appearance, if someone wanted to think that she and Natsu were dating then let them, it's not like she was planning on coming back any time soon.

"So where is this Virgo?" Natsu asked, looking around as if he already knew what she looked like.

"She was one of my fathers 'hired help'" Lucy said putting air quotes around hired help, her father had referred to them as servants and Lucy had always hated that term. She wondered how many would recognize her. She wouldn't mind if Virgo, Capricorn and maybe Aquarius recognized her, but what would she be getting herself into.

"Oooooh" Natsu said with wide eyes "I thought she was like a maid or somethin'"

"Well, that was her job title" Lucy said guiding him in the direction she guessed it would most likely be held.

"Do you think she'll be here?" Natsu asked curiously. He never had heard much of Lucy's past except for the bare minimum, or at least, that's what she called it. It be nice to meet someone from her childhood.

"Most likely, she was the one to call me" Lucy said finally spotting the place she was looking for, the sight of her mother's grave. And sure enough there was a crowd gathered there. "Found it" Lucy said pointing towards the group before grabbing Natsu's hand and pulling him over to the area.

"Princess, it's nice to see that you came" came an even voice from behind the two.

"Virgo!" Lucy exclaimed turning around to see her pink haired friend who had made life bearable during her childhood.

"Princess?" Natsu said looking at Lucy "Is that your nickname or somethin'? Should I call you that?"

"What?! No way, it's just a nickname that Virgo's called me since I was a kid" Lucy said smacking him on the shoulder.

Smirking Virgo said "I see you have brought a young male with you, care to introduce me?"

"This is Natsu Dragneel" Lucy said gesturing to Natsu "And no, it's not what you think Virgo."

"I haven't said anything Princess, but I think it's perfectly fine if you've found a male companion"

Shaking her head, she sincerely hoped that Natsu hadn't been able to piece together what Virgo had said. "Well I haven't, Natsu's a friend who came with me."

"I hope you're not lying to me princess" Virgo said staring her straight in the eye.

"I am not" Lucy huffed crossing her arms.

"Soo should we head over to the funeral or?" Natsu said trying to help Lucy out of the conversation.

"Ah yes" Virgo said "I'll lead you over."

"Uh Virgo, it's like ten feet away, I think we can find it by ourselves" Lucy said.

"Well that's where I was heading anyway" Virgo said before heading over the crowd.

"Sooo that's Virgo?" Natsu asked "She's not exactly what I expected."

"She's never what anyone would expect" Lucy said before grabbing Natsu's hand once again and began to lead him over to the crowd. It was time to finally get this over with.

* * *

A/N: I'm changing the update schedule to Friday only until further notice.


	26. The Funeral

Lucy felt as though it was all eyes on her. She couldn't help but imagine what they were thinking. After all these years without even a single trace of her, she shows up. They were probably all thinking that she was only here to see what she had got in the will. But even if that was the truth, they wouldn't be any better.

Natsu, sensing Lucy's worry, squeezed her shoulder reassuringly before letting his arm rest there. He was doing the best to look like he was totally supposed to be there. But judging by the stares, he figured him and his hair were just too unusual. Looking around, he took in the guests and noticed how they all seemed, well rather old and most looked like those stereotypical rich guys. Shrugging his shoulders, he decided he didn't really care and turned his attention to the casket, the funeral was supposed to start soon apparently.

Lucy was doing her best to not look around. She was sure most recognized her and was worried if any of them would try to make small talk with her later. She still remembered how Mr. Smith's son had kinda had a thing for her. It had gotten to the point of the boy's father trying to set up and engagement between the two. Thank mavis, that for once her father hadn't done something that would have ruined her life.

When Smith noticed her, she quickly averted her eyes and turned them towards the casket. Wasn't the funeral was supposed to start soon. Elbowing Natsu she whispered "What time is it?"

Checking his watch before leaning down, he whispered back "A little bit after three."

"Just wanted to know how much longer until this would start, but it looks like were running behind" Lucy muttered before turning her attention to the casket. But now there seemed to be some priest standing by it.

"Today" the priest began, his voice ringing out "we mourn the death of Jude Heartfilla, as well as remember his life." The man waited for everyone to settle down and become quiet before continuing. "Now Jude Heartfilla was a loving husband and father" Lucy could help but almost laugh at that statement, but she had enough restraint to not be petty towards her dead father "He was one of those stories you hear all the time as a child, starting from nothing and working their way to the top, and soon becoming one of the richest men in the county. Yes, Jude lived a fulfilling life. Now first up, his business partner and close friend, Johnathan Smith, would like to say a few words" the man said stepping back and gesturing for the other to come forward.

Once Smith had made his way to the front he looked around the crowd, his eyes staying on Lucy for a few seconds before beginning "Jude Heartfilla was a good friend, and an even better business man. To think that he would only live to fifty five seems preposterous, but here we are today" he said glancing down the coffin before turning his attention back to the crowd "I'm sure he lived a full and satisfying life, he was considered one of the best business men, something all of us business men here strive for. I'm sure he has no regrets in his life" Smith finished before stepping back into the crowd, accompanied by a loud applause.

Lucy couldn't help but frown at the last part, her father having no regrets in life? That seemed unlikely, he had to somewhat regret that the two of theirs relationship practically fell apart after her mother's death. But who knows what her father thought.

"Now then" the priest said taking back his spot by the casket "It's recently come to my attention that Jude's daughter, Lucy, is here. I would like to ask her to come forward and say a few words about your father" he finished searching the crowd for Lucy.

Glancing up to Natsu she saw he was watching her with a questioning look. "Should I go up there?" Lucy whispered, glancing quickly up to where the priest was standing, she had no idea what she could say. Besides, no one had even told her about this, so truthfully she really didn't want to go up and talk about her father.

Shrugging Natsu whispered back "It's up to you, but I mean maybe you should go up. It might make you feel at peace or whatever."

"Yeah, I guess I should" Lucy sighed, feeling Natsu giving her shoulder a squeeze before Lucy began to head up to the front.

When she reached the front, the priest smiled and handed her a microphone "I'm sure you father would want you to say something" he said reassuringly.

Sure, Lucy thought almost rolling her eyes. Gripping the microphone she turned around and faced everybody. The feeling that everyone was practically staring her down grew worse. Quickly looking around the crowd she finally found Natsu, feeling a little bit calmer she began "I'm still recovering from the sudden death of my father" instantly she had no idea what else to say, should she talk about how her father wasn't even a father, tarnish their memories of him?

Shaking the thoughts from her head she scolded herself for such thoughts, funerals were for people, all they wanted to hear was how great her father was. Taking a deep breathe she continued "A fond memory I have of my father is when he surprised my mom and I with a trip to the beach. It's one of the few memories I have as us as a family, as most of you know my mother died when I was young. While I don't remember what we did on the trip, I do remember how happy everyone looked. I had rarely seen my father smile before that trip, but the entire time we were there he always seemed to be smiling" pausing Lucy fanatically began to think of how to finish her story "This is one of the happiness memories I have of my father, and I'm sure now he's smiling just like he did then, with my mom."

Taking a deep breath Lucy handed the microphone back to the priest before hurrying back to her spot.

"You did great" Natsu whispered in her ear when she got back.

"Whatever" Lucy said crossing her arms over her stomach before tightening them. She had given them what they had wanted, a heartfelt speech from his daughter.

"Now then" the priest said gesturing towards the coffin "It's time to lower the casket into the grave." Lucy truthfully didn't pay that much attention to this part. She could still remember when it had happened with her mother. She hadn't understood why they were putting her mother into the ground. Apparently Aquarius had to hold her back from running towards the casket.

Turning away she said to Natsu "You want to go after this?"

"Hmm" he said raising an eyebrow "Isn't there supposed to be a will or somethin'."

"Yeah, but I'm not sure I'm going to get anything" Lucy said staring at the ground.

"Still, you should stay for a little longer, isn't there anyone else you want to talk to here" Natsu asked, looking around to see where Virgo was, maybe there were someone near her that Lucy had been friends with.

"I guess your right" Lucy said "There are at least three others I would like to talk to that worked for my father."

"Now Jude Heartfilla has been laid to rest" the priest said "In about ten minutes the will be read."

"Well, we have only ten minutes before they read the will" Natsu said glancing down at her.

"Yeah, I guess I'll go talk to Virgo to see if they're here" Lucy said searching around for Virgo.

"Can I tag along?" Natsu asked, he truthfully didn't want to leave Lucy alone, a few of these guys were staring at her too much for his liking.

"I guess" Lucy said with a shrug before she noticed Virgo standing off to the side by herself. Grabbing his hand she said to Natsu "Come on lets go."

Before they even reached the maid, she raised her hand in greeting and said "Hello again princess, do you and your friend plan on staying for the will reading?"

"Yes Virgo, but what I was wondering was if any of the others are here?" Lucy asked when they reached.

"The others?" Virgo questioned tilting her head.

"You know, Aquarius, Capricorn, Cancer? Are they here?" Lucy asked looking around, she hadn't spotted them so far, but that might be inside.

"Ahh, them" Virgo said nodding her head "I'm sorry princess, but they have all left."

"What?!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Capricorn hasn't worked for your father since after you left, no one really knows where he ran off to" Virgo said shrugging her shoulders "Aquarius left the day after your father's death, said she was finally going to move in with her boyfriend. Cancer…..well I'm not sure. But I haven't seen him since the day I called you" Virgo said placing her hand on her chin "I don't know where he might be, probably in town most likely. While you were gone he got a second job at the salon in town I believe."

"Thanks for the info Virgo. I guess I'll look for him tomorrow" Lucy said giving the maid a smile. She had truly hoped that she would have been able to talk to those three. She had really missed them since her disappearance.

"Sorry Luce" Natsu said looking at her concerned; she had sounded so disappointed about the answer Virgo had given her. But it looked like one of them was still in town.

"About what? I'm fine, I'll try to fine Cancer tomorrow after I visit my other friend" Lucy said shaking her head "Now then, I'm pretty sure that ten minutes is about to be up."

"You're actually going to listen to the will?" Natsu asked surprised, cocking his head.

"Why not?" Lucy said shrugging her arms "If we're going to stay here for it why wouldn't I listen to it."

"You have a point."

"Ok then, lets head back towards the crowd" Lucy said before turning around and heading back. Honestly, she wanted to know who her father left everything for, and she knew everyone else wanted to know the same thing.

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the slow pace that the story has been going lately. I'm only doing it to build up to a big part of the plat that will happen after the next chapter. I promise that the story will speed up very soon. Since next week I'm going to be away from my computer for most of the week, next weeks chapter might be a little short due to that and the fact I'm also working on my Nalu week entries.


	27. The Will

"Now then, let us go forth with the reading the last will and testament of the late Jude Heartfilla" said the priest, drawing everyone's attention back to him. The crowd soon became hushed, not a single sound came from anyone, most waiting in bated breath to see if they had inherited anything. Lucy was also holding her breath, her biggest concern was which of these money bags would get her father's estate.

"Jude left his company to his closest business partner, Johnathan Smith." Smith practically jumped in the air, from joy no doubt. Lucy couldn't help but frown at the display. It was though he had known that he would have gotten it.

"Now then" the priest continued, coughing awkwardly at the display Smith had shown "The Heartfilla estate, as well as Jude's entire fortune was left to none other than his daughter, Lucy Heartfilla." A hush fell on the room as all eyes fell to Lucy. Lucy seemed to forget how to breathe, there was no way her father had left his entire fortune with her. But yet, whatever that man was reading said that she had.

Looking up at Natsu she saw him staring back at her with his mouth wide open. "Don't look so surprised stupid" Lucy said elbowing him.

"Why? Did you know that you were going to inherit, like everything?" Natsu asked, his eyes wide.

"What, no" Lucy whisper-yelled "You look ridiculous with you face like that, that's why."

"Ok, ok, geez sorry" Natsu mumbled. Lucy was no longer paying attention to what the priest was saying she was just trying to digest what she had just heard. If it was true that she would inherit all of her father's fortune then that would mean that she would be a billionaire. There was no way that it could be true.

"How rich was your father?" Natsu asked, leaning down to look Lucy in the face.

"Pretty rich, I think he was considered a billionaire, why?" Lucy asked right back. Why did Natsu care so much about it, she honestly didn't know what her next step even was. She technically was the owner of a humongous mansion and a large fortune. Really, she was kinda wishing that she hadn't got anything in the will.

Pursing his lips Natsu said "With that kind of money you wouldn't need to work."

"What? Are you worried that I'm going to quit and leave you or something?" Lucy asked jokingly with a smirk.

"Wha-no pssh why would I worry about something like that?" Natsu said sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Okay whatever you say" Lucy said rolling her eyes. She began to notice that everyone seemed to be leaving. It looked as though the funeral was over, and thank goodness. Sighing Lucy turned to Natsu and said "Give me a minute before we leave, I'm going to visit my mother's grave."

"Okay" Natsu said shrugging his shoulders before watching Lucy walk over to her mom's grave. Putting his hands behind his head, he waited for her to finish so they could go…..who knows where. Maybe they should go out and celebrate Lucy becoming a billionaire or something.

"Umm excuse me?" came a male voice from behind him.

Spinning around Natsu saw that it was that Smith guy "What do ya need?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if you and Ms. Heartfilla where in a relationship?" the man asked while ringing his hands.

Curling his lip back he snarled "What's it to you?" This guy looked like bad news, he was practically ancient and he was trying to put moves on Lucy?

"Umm well you see, my son has always fancied her and I was wondering-"the man rambled before Natsu abruptly cut him off.

"Well, Lucy and I are in a relationship, and I don't think that she would want to be in an arranged relationship with your son even if she wasn't" Natsu spit out, staring daggers at the man, he'd better get the hint and just leave.

"Oh my apologizes, I'll um just leave."

"Yeah, that sounds good" Natsu said as he watched the guy quickly turn around and run. Chuckling as he watched the man run off, he couldn't help but feel a little bad about scaring the living daylights out of the man, but only a little.

"What the heck did you say to that poor man?" came a voice from behind him, and they didn't sound too pleased.

Turning around he saw Lucy in her 'you better tell me what the hell you just did pose'. Complete with raised eyebrow, crossed arms and tapping foot.

"Uhh well you see, he was um" Natsu said trying to think of a good excuse.

"What was he doing?" Lucy asked, narrowing her glare at Natsu.

"He was trying to set you up with his son" Natsu said before closing his eyes, awaiting his smack, but when it never came he opened his eyes and looked over at Lucy. She had her hand covering her face and was shaking her head.

"So you decided to scare him?" Lucy muttered "That was your best idea?"

"Ummmmm, no? Maybe?" Natsu said biting his lip and looking away.

Sighing, Lucy shaked her head again before saying "You're a handful you know?"

"I know" Natsu mumbled.

"Now then, what should we do?" Lucy asked, she honestly wasn't planning on staying at the hotel for the rest of the night.

"Well Ms. Billionaire, why not go out for drinks?" Natsu said before bowing.

"Stop it" Lucy said hitting him lightly on the head before laughing "Are you suggesting we get drunk?"

"No, never!" Natsu exclaimed, putting his hand over his heart.

"Uh huh, anyway, it sounds like a good idea" Lucy said shrugging.

"Soooo will you pay?" Natsu asked sliding up next to her.

"Don't you start" Lucy said, playfully hitting him in the chest.


	28. Alcohol Makes You Do Stupid Things

During her lifetime Lucy had gotten drunk about four times surprisingly, from these times she had learned two things. One, she was a real emotional drunk and two, drunk Lucy and Natsu (especially drunk Natsu) should never mix. But did that ever really stop her? No not in the slightest. So that's why as she skipped down the street and tripping over ever rock in the process at god knows what time, completely drunk. Natsu was the same way except he couldn't really seem to walk in a straight line.

"Hey Natsu" Lucy said pointing her finger at Natsu or at least in the general area of where he was "Didya know that you gots like a supah cute ass? Cause ya do!" Drunk Lucy wasn't exactly subtle when it came to flirting.

"Woah really?" Natsu asked his eyes widening as he turned around, most likely trying to look at his butt. "You also gotta nice ass" Natsu replied adding an extra emphasis on the c in nice.

"Haha really thanks" Lucy said before throwing her arms around Natsu neck.

"Come on Lushe! We needs to get back to the hotel" Natsu said when he realized that Lucy wasn't walking and he was practically dragging her.

"Hey Natsuuuu" Lucy hummed into Natsu's ear "You wanna know a secret?" her voice catching on the last word.

"Is it a good secret?" Natsu asked as he continued dragging her down the street, they had left the car at the bar and Natsu was wishing Lucy had let him drive them back. It was only five miles away. But even when drunk it seemed Lucy was still more rational then him. He was getting tired of dragging her. But he did want to know the secret plus he didn't really mind that she had draped herself over him.

"Yeaaaaah it's a greaaat secret" Lucy said her breath tickling his ear.

"I wanna hear it then!" Natsu yelled throwing his arms in the air, one of which barely missed hitting Lucy right in the face.

"Shhh stupid it's a secret! You gotta be quiet" Lucy hissed before tightening her grip around his neck. The hotel was in sight now and it wouldn't be long before they reached it.

"Tell me" Natsu whined. He could totally keep a secret he was the best at keeping secrets. Well there was that one time when he told Levy that Gajeel had a super huge crush on her. But it wasn't like it ended badly.

"Okaaaay" Lucy said before looking around as if someone was going to listen in on what she was saying. When she thought the cost was clear she leaned close and whispered "I am like totally in love with you like totally."

"Really?!" Natsu asked, his voice rising in volume.

"Yeah" Lucy said lessening her grip around his neck.

"That's like really cool!" Natsu yelled.

"Huh?" Lucy asked surprised, tilting her head in confusion.

"Cause I like totally love you too!" Natsu yelled.

"Really?" Lucy asked in surprise, her eyes widening.

"Really" Natsu said as the finally reached the hotel.

Lucy was silent for a few for seconds "Hey Natsu."

"Yeah?" Natsu asked as the rounded the corner to where the door was, or at least where Natsu thought it was.

"I wanna- no can I- no wait" Lucy mumbled trying decided how to word what she wanted. "I wanna kiss you like right now" Lucy said before letting go of Natsu's neck. She then threw one arm around his shoulder and faced him. Her face was flushed and she had a stupidly happy grin on her.

Opening the door to the hotel Natsu said "I don't think you'd want to kiss me where people can see" while gesturing his head over to the receptionist was siting.

"Yeah that makes sense" Lucy said grabbing the sleeve of his shirt before pulling him towards the room. They reached a problem when they reached the door though.

"Do ya have the key?" Natsu asked as he watched Lucy dig around her pocket. She was putting in more effort than she wanted to find the key all she really wanted to do at the moment was kiss Natsu. But he did have a point she didn't want anyone to watch them. But she didn't think anyone would see them-

"Found it!" Lucy yelled before pulling out the key and quickly putting it into the lock. She had to jiggle the key around before the door finally relented. Letting out a whoop she turned around pulled Natsu into the room by his collar.

Giggling the minute the door finally closed she pulled Natsu down and pressed her lips against his. They felt hot against hers as she slipped her fingers into his hair. The kiss was quick, nothing more than a peck on the lips. But Lucy wasn't satisfied yet and neither was Natsu.

Pulling her face back towards his he crashed his lips sloppily against hers. Her fingers stayed threaded in his hair as the two backed up until Lucy felt her back hit the wall. Pulling apart for a few seconds to breathe Natsu took this as an opportunity to pick Lucy up. Grabbing her ass with a devilish smirk he hoisted her up. Letting out a gasp in surprise before she wrapped her legs around his waist she soon sent him back a similar smirk.

Connecting their lips once more Natsu slid one of his hands to Lucy's jaw. Tilting her head up he bit her bottom lip causing her to gasp. This gave him enough leeway for him to shove his tongue into her mouth. Moaning as Natsu's tongue explored her mouth she tightened her grip on his hair, pulling him closer to her.

They drew apart both huffing heavily as they tried to gain their breath. Lucy waited for Natsu to crash his lips against hers once again but it seemed he had a different idea. Moving his lips to her ear Natsu trailed light kisses down to her neck. Squirming Lucy wanted nothing more than his lips to be on hers again but before she could pull back up to face her she felt him beginning to suck on her neck.

Letting out a low moan Lucy tightened her grip on his hair even more before slowly running her fingers through his. When he finally released her skin, Lucy's hand flew to his jaw before pulling him towards her for another kiss. While she could still feel passion bubbling in her stomach she was really tired.

When the pulled apart she rested her head on his shoulder and asked "Hey can we stop I'm tired?"

"Sure" Natsu said he was honestly getting tired too.

"Carry me" Lucy mumbled as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Ok" Natsu muttered back as he slipped his arms under her ass. "You know" he mused "You probably look like a kola right now?"

"I wanna be a koala" Lucy muttered as she shut her eyes "They get to sleep for like twenty hours."

"That does sound nice" Natsu muttered back as he walked backwards before he felt the back of his legs hit the bed. Falling back onto the bed they bounced slightly.

"You could've just put me down" Lucy muttered as she tried to unwrap her legs from his waist.

"Too lazy" Natsu muttered raising up his back enough so Lucy could move her legs.

"Hmmm" Lucy said before snuggling into Natsu's cheats still keeping her arms around his neck. Moving his arms so they were wrapped around her waist he placed his head atop hers and soon they two where lulled to sleep. Their alcohol high was coming to an end.

* * *

A/N: This is like the most mature thing I've ever wrote and some of you want me to write a lemon. Hoo boy that would end badly. Any way now the ball is rolling even more so you know what that means.


	29. Chapter 29 Mistakes May Have Been Made

Lucy didn't want to open her eyes but she could feel the sunlight that was shining directly on her face. Groaning she tried to roll over away from the sun but to no avail. She could feel something wrapped around her waist but her brain hadn't woken up yet, so she didn't question it too much. She tried to just lie back down and get comfortable again when she was hit by the first onslaught of a headache.

Moving her hand so it gripped her forehead, she let out groan of pain as the pounding in her head slowly worsened. She knew she had to force herself to get up now. Sluggishly opening her eyes she squinted when the sun hit them. Closing her eyes again she groaned once again before propping herself upwards. Yawning and stretching her arms she finally opened her eyes. Her first plan of action was to find some aspirin on something. Then she'd have to get ready, she did have plans to visit with her friend and she wanted to do something else but she couldn't remember what exactly.

Of course there was also still the question of what was still around her waist. Glancing down she took note of what was wrapped tight around her waist. Oh it's an arm. Wait an arm?! That was not something Lucy was used to waking up to. Feeling terror grip her stomach she followed the arm to its owner, Natsu.

Opening then closing her mouth she quickly accessed the situation. Both Natsu and she had their clothes on and they were both still lying on top of the covers. So there was no way they had done anything extreme. Maybe they had just come back and where so drunk they just fell asleep instantly or something. She was having trouble remembering what had happened the night before, how drunk had she been?!

Taking a deep breath Lucy tried to calm herself down. There was no point in getting herself worked up she would probably remember what had happened if she got this stupid headache under control.

Unwinding Natsu's arm, she slipped off the bed and headed over towards her bag, digging through she searched for the bottle of aspirin. Finding it and pulling it out with delight she got back up and crept into the bathroom before finally taking the pills.

Gripping the sides of the sink she looked at her appearance in the mirror. She honestly looked like crap. Her hair was a totally mess, clothes wrinkled, she looked like she had been dragged through the gutter. Nothing a shower couldn't fix and maybe a little make-up. Turning on the shower before heading back into the room to grab some clothes she checked to see if Natsu was still asleep, and sure enough he was still out like a light.

When she stepped into the shower she relished the feeling of the hot water beating against her back. The pounding in her head was slowly going away and she was soon able to think clearly again. Thinking back she only remembered some of what happened. Her telling Natsu there was no way she was letting him drive, the walk back to the hotel and….holy shit she had confessed to Natsu.

Smacking her forehead and then instantly regretted when a wave of pain hit her head once again. She would confess when drunk! Honestly did she have any self-control and if Natsu remembered, then what? Turning off the water she wrapped a towel around her body before stepping out. Now all there was to do was remember what happened after that.

Heading towards the mirror once again she grabbed her brush and began to try her best at taming her hair. While brushing her hair was when she finally noticed it, she had no idea how she could have missed it earlier but she did. Right at the base of her neck was a bruise but it wasn't any bruise because how the hell would she have managed to bruise herself there? No it had to be a hickey.

Dropping her brush in surprise Lucy stood frozen. What the hell happened last night? Well obviously she had gotten a little personal with someone last night and since she didn't remember much after she had made that embarrassing confession then it had to be Natsu.

Feeling and watching as the blush spread on her cheeks, she quickly looked away from the mirror. God what the hell kind of mistakes did she make last night. Groaning, she realized that Natsu and she had most likely had a pretty intense make out session last night, and she couldn't even remember it! She wasn't sure yet if she was happy or disappointed.

Sighing before running her fingers through her hair, she decided it would be best to confront Natsu about it later. But for now she needed to get ready and head out to go see her friends. She couldn't take Natsu's car since it was still at the bar and she honestly didn't want to wake him to just get the keys.

Slipping on her pants she figured that since her friend lived only about two blocks away from the hotel it wouldn't be that far of a walk. Besides it felt like she wanted to do something before she visited her, but what? She wracked her brain as she finished getting dressed. She had planned on looking for someone, but who?

Looking in the mirror once again she saw the hickey plain as day. Cringing she hoped she had packed a scarf or something; she didn't want to walk around town with that on her neck. Slipping out of the bathroom she let out a sigh of relief when she saw Natsu was still out. Heading back to her bag she dug around until she pulled out what she was looking for. It looked like she had packed a scarf.

Wrapping it around her neck, she picked the key for the room that had seemed to have fallen on the ground. Shoving it in her pocket she gave Natsu a sideways glance before opening the door and heading out.

Stepping outside she realized she'd probably looked a little crazy for wearing a scarf. Even though it was early November it was pretty warm outside, but it was better than people staring at her neck.

The walk to her friends was rather nice, there wasn't that many people out and about. She was still trying to figure out what she had planned to do before going to see her friend until she walked by a salon and it hit her. She had planned on looking for Cancer. How could she have forgotten? Virgo had said that he had gotten a job in town as a hair stylist, but the problem was where?

Lucy knew of three salons in town. The one she was standing next to at the moment, the one halfway across town and the one right at the entrance to town. She really didn't want to go on a wild goose chase to find out where he was but she did really want to catch up with him.

Peeking inside the salon she saw there was only two people in there at the moment and neither where Cancer. Heading to the door she figured it wouldn't hurt to ask if he worked there, and if he did then she could ask what time his shift ended or something. Placing her hand on the door she was about to push the door open when she heard "Lucy long time no see!"

Jumping practically out of her skin Lucy whirled around to see who the owner of the voice was. She was greeted by the sight of her old friend Cancer. "Cancer" Lucy said in surprise, taking her hand away from the door "I was just looking for you."

"I was wondering if you'd be coming in town for your father's funeral. I haven't talked to Virgo in a while" Cancer said absently "I should probably call her."

"Yeah you probably should" Lucy said trying to draw Cancer's attention back "So how've you been?"

"Oh" Cancer said turning his attention back to her "I've been doing pretty well. I work at this salon, have been for a few years" he said pointing to the one she was standing next to "So it ended up working out rather nicely after your fathers passing" pausing Cancer looked over at Lucy to see if he had hit a string only to see her nodding.

"That's nice, you had a job for when the one you had for my father was no longer needed. You're the lucky one" Lucy said nodding, she figured most of her father's help and such where out of the job and had already moved back home or in search of jobs.

"Yes I guess I am" Cancer said before looking at his watch "As much as I would love to catch up with you ebi-"

"Please don't start with the nicknames."

"But my shift starts soon. I'll try to meet up with you later ebi" Cancer said with a wave before walking past her and into the salon while trying to stifle a laugh.

"I am not a shrimp!" Lucy yelled at his back before shaking her head. She had thought she had escaped the nickname but it looked like she was never safe no matter what height or age. Sighing she continued her walk in peace, looking at all the street signs she passed until she soon found her friends street.

Walking down the street she mumbled under her breath as she looked at the numbers on the doors "Was it 1876 or 1873 or was it…" Finally she found the address she was looking for. Climbing up the steps she knocked on the door and waited. The two hadn't talked to each other face to face ever since she left town. She was worried to say the least.

She began to get worried when the door wasn't opening and was beginning to think that she had the wrong address when the door swung open.

"Lucy! It's so good to see you, you've grown. Sorry about the mess I was trying to clean it up when you came" she said stepping aside for Lucy to come inside.

"No, no its fine" Lucy said as she stepped into the almost spotless room, she couldn't see a mess anywhere but still "It's good to see you as well Aries."

Smiling Aries gestured her over to the couch "Sit, sit we need to catch up."


	30. Advice

"So Aries" Lucy began as she watched the girl bustle about, she wasn't exactly sure what Aries was trying to do but she seemed to have some motive "How's your new job that you've been telling me about?"

"Hmm" Aries said as she popped her head out from the kitchen "Oh well I mean it's going well. Working in sales will help me later on if I'm ever to open my own shop but I never realized just how horrible working in customer service was" Aries had disappeared back into the kitchen, Lucy could hear her rummaging around for something while listening to Aries continue on "I mean you always hear the horror stories but I never realized how bad it actually was."

Aries came out of the kitchen carrying two glasses of some drink Lucy had yet to recognize and sat across from her. Setting the drinks on the table Aries said apologetically "Sorry I couldn't remember if you liked tea but it's all I had besides water. If you'd prefer that I could-"

"No, no it's fine I like tea" Lucy said trying to reassure her friend before picking up the glass and taking a sip. Giving her a reassuring smile she sat the glass back on the table before asking "So how's the boyfriend? Is he still behaving himself?"

"Lucy" Aries said reaching across and smacking her playfully "He has not once been unfaithful, I don't know where you get those ideas! Sorry for yelling at you" Aries quickly added.

"Well I mean he flirted with every girl in school" Lucy said with a sigh "I mean he was literally voted most likely to be a heartbreaker!"

"Oh stop, he's changed. But now I'm not so sure how you'll take the news" Aries said while crossing her legs and reaching for her drink.

"What news?" Lucy asked hesitantly while she had always gotten along with Aries boyfriend she was never too sure about him and his flirty ways. Even though he seemed to stop considerably after he and Aries began dating.

Taking a drink before answering, Aries put her cup back on the table before saying "Well you see we were talking the other day about how we've been together for quite some time and well…"

Lucy looked at her friend before glancing down at the hand Aries had placed on the table. Seeing the glimmering band on her friend's finger she quickly looked up at her friend then back down at her hand before looking at Aries again. Leaning across the table she said with wide eyes "No way, he didn't-"

"He did" Aries said while beaming, blush spreading throughout her cheeks and then quickly adding "Sorry for interrupting you."

"He really did? Oh my god Loke, the Loke that used to say that he would never get married ever, proposed?" Lucy said in amazement as she placed her hands on the table while watching Aries blush spread further.

"Yes he did, now that's out of the way-"Aries began before she was quickly cut off by Lucy.

"When's the wedding?!" Lucy exclaimed. This felt like one of those moments when most people would say or at least be thinking about how their friends from high school are getting engaged and married but they weren't even in a relationship. But in a way Lucy was still technically in high school.

"Um sorry but we haven't talked about that yet, most likely in a year or two. Besides, there's no reason for you to worry about it. I want to know what's happening with you. Still a high school English teacher?" Aries asked, she knew that Lucy still had the same job all she really wanted to know was the details on her and that one co-worker she always talks about. He had a weird name Nathan or Natsu or something.

"Yeah, I still have the same old job. But at least every year is different" Lucy said with a laugh before continuing "Teenagers can make for some pretty hilarious events."

"Uh huh sounds interesting" Aries said while nodding her head she wanted to ask Lucy about that Nathan guy or was it Natsu, but she didn't want to be rude and interrupt Lucy.

"There was one time I was on lunch duty and theses two tables started to throw things between each other. It started out as paper balls then it was pencils then one table threw an apple and the other threw a milk carton at then that still had some milk in it" Lucy said pausing to laugh before continuing "So by then I was stepping in and right after I turned my back apparently they threaten to throw some weird concoction at the one table but ended up throwing it the wrong way. It sailed across the room and hit this poor freshman in the back" Lucy finished with a laugh.

"That does sound very funny" Aries said with a small laugh. She was about to ask about that co-worker of hers when Lucy seemed to continue on with her stories.

"There was also this one time that my co-worker told me about, I've told you about him his name's Natsu, apparently he was letting the kids play this weird version of soccer and dodgeball combined or something. Anyway apparently this one girl kept getting hit. Once in the stomach and once in the forehead, and then the kids convinced him to join the game. So the girl was guarding the goal and Natsu" Lucy paused, covering her mouth to contain her laughter before continuing all while trying to hold back the laughter "he tried to score and he ended up hitting the poor girl in the face when she jumped up trying to block the goal. He said she wiped out on the floor" Lucy said finally letting her laughter out between each laugh she wheezed "I honestly shouldn't be laughing about it but the image for it is hilarious."

"This co-worker of yours, Natsu you said, are you two close?" Aries said jumping at the chance to get her friend flustered. Most of the time she remembered Lucy talking about the guy it was in that voice. The voice people get when they talk about someone they love, or at least someone they really like.

"Hmm" Lucy asked, taken back from the change in subject "Oh well yes, we are good friends. He even offered to come with me to my father's funeral, and before you ask yes he did come with me, but…" Lucy said while trying to figure out how to explain how their relationship had recently taken a different turn.

"But what? Sorry if I'm being too pushy" Aries said in hopes of encouraging her friend to continue.

"Well recently I guess our relationship has begun to change" Lucy began while biting her lip "I don't know if I ever told you this but I'm pretty sure you were able to figure it out but I'm in love with Natsu" Lucy looked over to Aries slowly nodding her head.

"If your waiting for me to say if I knew then yes, I figured you liked a lot maybe not in love but you get the point" Aries answered before waiting for Lucy to continue her story.

"Well a few weeks ago we were at the annual fair the town has and well when we were looking at the trees he asked me if he could kiss me" Lucy said her cheeks heating up at the memory "I remember being dumbstruck but I somehow told him yes because he kissed me and" Lucy said her face reddening "Aries it was amazing and he was going to say something then we got interrupted and to be honest before this kiss we almost kissed two times but both times we were interrupted."

"So you've kissed then you talked about it right?" Aries asked before picking up her glass and taking a sip.

"Well I mean the next day I was going to bring it up but then we kinda adopted a cat so it got put on the backburner. Every time after that when I was going to confess or bring it up something would happen and ugh it was just a mess" Lucy said burying her face in her hands before continuing, her voice softening "And then…my father died. Natsu did his best to cheer me up and then he volunteered to go with me to make sure I was comfortable appearing again after all these years and-"Lucy said pausing, taking her head out of her heads she faced Aries again before she continued "Then it happened again."

"Again, what happened again?" Aries asked confused as she placed her glass down on the table.

"Last night after my father's funeral the two of us went out for drinks and we both drank a little too much. I only really remember what happened on the way back to the hotel but I know I confessed to Natsu" Lucy said while running her fingers through her hair, she was still distressed that she had told Natsu how she felt. To make matters worse what could happen if Natsu remembered everything. True it might end up with them finally getting together or at least clearing their feelings for each other.

"You didn't" Aries asked worriedly. Lucy was an emotional person so the fact that she confessed her love to someone while drunk must be eating away at her.

"I did" Lucy whined "But it doesn't end there. Even though everything after that is a blur I was able to figure out what happened once we got back to the hotel" Lucy said watching while Aries raised an eyebrow. Pulling off her scarf she waited for her friend to notice it and when she did Lucy heard her fine.

Gasping Aries stared at the offending thing on Lucy's neck "You guys didn't, right?"

"If you're going to ask if we had sex then no, all clothes where on when I woke up" Lucy said winding the scarf around her neck again "But we definitely crossed the line of friends for sure last night. I don't know what I should do Aries!? Should I talk to him? Or should I wait and see if he remembers, or what else?" Lucy said feeling herself getting worked up.

"Lucy calm down" Aries said quickly while getting up and heading over to sit next to her friend. Sitting next to her she threw her arms around her friend and gave her a hug "Everything is going to be ok, the two of you will figure it out" Aries said pulling away before placing her hands on Lucy's shoulders and giving them a squeeze she said "You should talk to him about this, whether her remembers what happened or not. If not your just going to beat yourself up about it and keep your emotions bottled up. You need to talk to him soon about this so it doesn't get put off again" Aries said staring hard at Lucy.

"I know, I know I should talk to him about it but-"Lucy said frantically before Aries cut her off.

"Sorry for cutting you off but you need to calm down. The next time you see him or before you get home you need to talk to him about this, ok?" Aries asked Lucy.

"Ok I guess this would be the best time as ever to talk to him about it" Lucy said taking a deep breath, she needed to do it eventually and this was her opportunity. She just needed to calm down and think clearly.

"Now then for the rest of this visit" Aries said standing up before heading over to a basket she had on the floor. Picking it up, she brought it over and sat it on the table. Looking inside the box Lucy knew she was in for it. Sitting down next to Lucy, Aries picked up the first book on top of the stack "Time to look at old yearbooks!"

"Can we please skip the two years I had braces and went through that scene phase?" Lucy begged.

"I don't think so Lucy we have to relive all out old school memories" Aries said before opening the yearbook "Besides this is only kindergarten we got eight years before we reach that time in your life" Aries teased.

Natsu had a big problem and he wasn't sure how he was going to go about it. He should've known better then to get drinks with Lucy alone but he never really listened to reason half of the time. That's was the reason he was in this mess. He and Lucy had gone pass the line of friendship. He remembered everything, at least for the most part, him telling Lucy he loved her, Lucy asking him to kiss her and him agreeing and he sure as hell remembered the make out session they had.

Oh mavis, did Lucy remember? If she did it might be a good thing then they could talk about this whole romantic tension thing that was going on between them. But there was still the possibility of Lucy remembering nothing.

Running his fingers through his hair he muttered "Shit." Pulling out his phone he looked at the time. He had slept in pretty late plus he had spent the last hour mulling over what to do with the events of last night.

Deciding to take the risk he dialed his brother. Gajeel would probably be on lunch break or something. Plus he was the shop teacher he'd have time to talk. The phone rang a few times as Natsu muttered under his breath "Pick up, pick up" bouncing his leg he began to get worried on the fifth ring when he finally heard the phone pick up.

"What the hell are you calling me for, I'm in the middle of teachin'" Gajeel said in his normal gruff tone "If you called me to ask about your cat he's doin' fine, him and Lily are getting' along fine."

"Yeah, yeah great but you see I'm calling you for another reason" Natsu his leg still bouncing.

"And that would be what?" Gajeel asked "C'mon I got someone on a saw I can't talk for long."

"Ok, ok geez" Natsu said rolling his eyes "So Lucy and me went out for drinks last night-"

"So you two got drunk?" Gajeel asked not even trying to contain the humor in his voice, Natsu couldn't help but think that he had that stupid smirk of his on his face "That must've went so well."

"Oh yeah it did" Natsu hissed sarcastically, why was every phone call with him like this "I got so I drunk I told Lucy I loved her."

"I told you that a few drinks would loosen you up if you were ever gonna finally tell her" Gajeel said almost amused at Natsu's predicament.

"It doesn't end there though" Natsu said running his fingers through his hair before continuing "Lucy asked me to kiss and I agreed and we kinda ended up making out hard core" Natsu muttered before placing a hand on his leg in hopes of stopping the bouncing.

"Oh my god! Hold on a sec, I gotta tell the kids to stop using the saw" Gajeel said bursting into laughter "I gotta give you some advice." Natsu soon heard Gajeel yelling "Oi runts, I gotta important phone call so don't touch the saw!"

"You good now?" Natsu asked impatiently he really didn't want any relationship for Gajeel. Levy was the one who had to confess first because Gajeel had been too much of a baby to do it.

"Yeah, yeah anyway on to some advice cause boy do ya need it" Gajeel said causing Natsu to roll his eyes "The next time ya see bunny girl-"

"Can you please call her Lucy for the sake of the conversation" Natsu grumbled before flopping down onto the bed.

"Fine, the next time ya see Lucy you need to talk to her about how your love for her. No if ands or buts. And no talking 'til after I finish with my advice! You two need to talk now about this stupid thing going on between you. This weird maybe-almost romantic thing going between you two drives me and probably everyone around you crazy. Hell Cana started a betting pool on whether or not the two of you will someday jump each other at school" Natsu couldn't help but grimace, Mirajane had told him something similar once but he hadn't realized Cana had turned it into a betting pool.

"So you two need to finally talk about your damn feelings for each other like now before you two do something stupid you regret! So just get it over with tell her you love her and you know the two of you are at a hotel so when you two finally confess there's a bed if you want to jump on each other or whatever. Ok advice done any questions" Gajeel finished leaving Natsu a little dumbstruck.

"No? Great, so I'll just end this conversation and get back to work" Gajeel said before hanging up the phone.

Natsu still had the phone next to his ear as he mumbled "That damn basterd, he didn't even say goodbye." Sitting up Natsu shoved his phone back in his pocket. Feeling the keys he decided now was a good time as ever to go back and get his car. Sighing he got up and headed out. He'd have to start mentally preparing himself if he was going to do this.

He was finally going to tell Lucy how he felt and nothing could stop him!

* * *

A/N: Soon I promise you will get what you want, and before any one asks those school stories are all based off stuff that happened to me in high school. Also fair warning there won't be an update during the last week of July.


	31. Comfessions

When Lucy finally made it back to the hotel she was about ready to collapse onto the nearest horizontal surface. She had ended up staying at Aries' place longer than she had expected. She had been getting ready to leave when Loke showed up. He had insisted, well more like he forced her to stay for dinner so he would also be able to talk to her. So she didn't end up leaving until close to seven.

She figured that Caner would've already been home but when she was walking by the salon he was just came out. So she was then invited to some café that she had never heard of before. After catching up with Cancer she was ready to sleep for the next twelve hours.

As she walked to their room, Lucy couldn't help but wonder if Natsu was awake. It was only ten but she wouldn't put it past him to fall asleep at any hour of the day or night. Reaching the room she became hesitant. Aries had told her that she needed to confess to Natsu as soon as possible but still. Even with all the evidence that he returned her feelings she still couldn't help but worry what the outcome could be. Plus she was so tired she wasn't even sure if she had the energy to even talk to him about it.

Sighing she took out the key and unlocked the door. She was then greeted by the sight of Natsu dead asleep and the TV on. Shaking her head in amusement she figured that he had turned on the TV in hopes of staying awake until she showed up. But it looked like it hadn't worked.

Closing the door behind her she headed over to her bag. Bending down she pulled out a pair of sweatpants and changed into them without bothering to go into the bathroom. It wasn't like she was going to wake Natsu up. That would take a marching band she thought amusingly. The day they had arrived the whole one bed situation had been a big problem. But after the night before Lucy at this point could care less.

Turning off the TV she flopped down onto the bed before turning off the light. Rolling over so her back faced Natsu she soon fell asleep.

Natsu didn't want to wake up. He was pretty comfortable and having a great dream, but he couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something. It only took a few seconds though before he remembered what he had wanted to do. He had planned to finally talk to Lucy about how he felt, but then before she got back, he had went and fallen asleep!

Natsu's eye quickly jerked open before he sat up. Resting his forehead in the palm of his hand he cursed before he realized it was morning and that they would be heading home soon. Natsu began to quickly make up a new plan in his head. As long as he confessed before they were back home then he would be fine. Sighing he ran his fingers through his hair before looking next to him.

He wasn't that surprised to see Lucy sleeping soundly next to him. If she hadn't wanted to sleep in the same bed with him, most likely due to the embarrassment that still clung from previous actions, she would have woken him up and told him to sleep on the floor. Stretching his arms above his head he got out of bed and headed over to his bag to get a change of clothes. They'd be leaving once Lucy was up and ready, which wouldn't take that much longer.

By the time he was dressed Natsu could hear the sheets rustling, it looked like Lucy was awake. Sticking his head out of the bathroom, toothbrush in his mouth, he saw Lucy sitting up in the bed. Her hair was sticking up everywhere; she stifled a yawn before looking over at him. He felt his heart squeeze when he saw her face fully even though she was only half awake she looked as gorgeous as ever.

"Mornin'" Lucy said before rubbing her eye "I see you're the first awake for once, probably because you fell asleep at nine or eight for all I know."

"Well I wasn't the one who was gone forever" that's what he had planned to say at least. Due to the toothbrush in his mouth it came out more as a gurgle of incomprehensive noises.

"What was that?" Lucy asked with an amused smile on her face "Something about me right?"

Taking the toothbrush out of his mouth Natsu replied "I said I wasn't the one who was gone forever."

"Well who was the one who was talking to friends that she hasn't seen in years" Lucy said crossing her legs while raising an eyebrow at him "And don't talk with toothpaste in your mouth you're spitting it everywhere."

Sticking the toothbrush back into his mouth rolled his eyes at her while heading back into the bathroom before taking the toothbrush out again to say "Well if you want to leave anytime soon so we get home at a decent hour then you might wanna start getting ready!"

Mocking him under her breath Lucy slid off the bed and headed over to her bag. While getting her clothes out of her bag it hit her, she still needed to tell Natsu her feelings. Looking over to the bathroom he watched as Natsu walked out. Noticing that she was watching him he gave her his trademark smile before gesturing at the bathroom with his thumb while saying "It's all free."

Nodding she smiled back before thanking him, grabbing her clothes she stood and scurried into the bathroom. Sighing she ran her fingers through her hair as she mumbled "How am I going to do this?" She needed to talk to Natsu about her feelings, she's needed to for a long time and now she had to tell him. But all her fears still racked around her brain.

Looking at herself in the mirror she muttered "I can do this. All I have to do is string some words together into a sentence and then wait for the answer. I can do this" taking a deep breath she decided that before she got home she would tell him. Then she'd finally have it all off her chest and she'd feel loads better.

As Natsu waited for Lucy to finish in the bathroom, so they could leave, he continued thinking on how and when he was going to tell Lucy everything. He knew the minute he told her he loved her he'd end up spilling all his guts. It would probably end up a complete mess but none the less he would've told her. Besides he could do this besides there was that one thing people always said, something about telling the person you love them before it's too late or something. But the problem was when was he going to do it? If he did it now and Lucy didn't feel the same it would be an awkward car ride home, and if he told her while they were in the car and she said no then it would still be an awkward car ride home.

He could always tell her when he dropped her off at her house, that way if she didn't feel the same everyone could go home and he could go crawl into hole and die. Of course the last bit may be a bit extreme but still it was the best plan he could think of. He was considering if he should try to tell her a certain way instead of just spilling it all out when Lucy came out of the bathroom.

"So" she said turning towards him "you ready?"

Smiling he replied "As ready as I'll ever be" before standing up.

"Great, now then come on" Lucy said heading over to her bag before Natsu stuck his hand out in front of her.

"How about you sign us out or whatever and I take the bags to the car" Natsu suggested putting on his best smile.

"Sure" Lucy said with a raised eyebrow "You trying to butter me up for something?"

"Nope" Natsu said shaking his head as he picked up the two bags "I just think it be faster and easier."

"Ok then, didn't realize you hated this place so much" Lucy joked before grabbing the key and opening the door for Natsu.

"I just wanna get home to my own bed and take Happy away from Gajeel, I don't trust him" Natsu said as he exited the room.

"He has a cat of his own you know?" Lucy said with a raised eyebrow as they walked towards the hotel lobby.

"You don't know what he might be trying, he might try and make Happy his cat" Natsu said "He's like the living incarnation of the crazy cat lady but in male form."

"Ok, ok" Lucy said rolling his eyes at him before arriving at the front desk. Watching as Natsu walked out the door she waited for the receptionist to show up.

"Sorry, where you waiting long" said a voice from behind her. Turning around Lucy saw what she guessed was the receptionist walking towards the desk.

"No I just got here" Lucy said, relived it wasn't the same one as before.

"Ok then, you must be sighing out right?" the lady asked.

"Uh yeah" Lucy said holding up the key.

"Okay then let's get you checked out" she said in a cheery voice. Lucy was relieved when she finally made it to the car, the receptionist this time sure loved to talk.

"What took you so long?" Natsu asked when she got into the car.

"The receptionist really liked to talk" Lucy said as she pulled the seatbelt across her.

"So it was a different one then from when we checked in?" Natsu asked amused.

"Yeah, very different" Lucy said as she buckled herself in "Now then, let's head off."

"You got it" Natsu replied as he started the car and headed out of the hotel parking lot "Are you going to say goodbye to your hometown? I mean you don't seem like you really plan on coming back soon."

Sighing Lucy nodded her head "I guess not I mean I guess I'll have to come back if Aries gets married in town which is likely but that will be a year at the least-"

"Wait that friend you went to talk to is getting married?" Natsu asked in surprise looking over at Lucy for a few seconds to see her reaction.

"Put your eyes back on the road Natsu, and yes she is. I told you that she and another friend of mine from high school were dating, right?" Lucy asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I think you mentioned something about it at some point" Natsu said while laughing.

"Uh huh?" Lucy said before turning her attention to the scenery that was whizzing past her. Even though she felt uncomfortable being here she did miss sometimes. Most of her first friends lived here and there was her old home that held all the memories of her mother. But she much preferred Magnolia, she'd be happy when she finally made it back home. When she passed the welcome sign to the town she raised her hand and gave it a weak wave. She'd have to come back eventually, there was house she now had. She couldn't just leave it here to rot. It looked like she'd be back sooner than she'd wanted.

The ride back home was relevantly quiet. The two talked of course, about what their students could've done while they were gone, about Happy, Lucy complained about how many papers she'd have to grade once she got back. They talked on and off about all the normal things they talked about. But when they weren't talking the two of them were deep in thought about how they were going to pull off their plan. Both where on edge and were anxious for the car ride to be over.

Natsu almost confessed at one point only to decide that sitting in the car for the next four hours would be very awkward if Lucy didn't feel the same. So when they finally arrived at Lucy's apartment they both began to steel their nerves.

Opening the door and getting out of the car, Lucy headed to the trunk where Natsu was already opening it somehow, did he run to the back of the car or something. Natsu pulled out her bag and handed it to her while saying "I'll go get Happy, do you want me to bring him back to your place or just keep him with me for the night?"

"I don't really care" Lucy said with a shrug as she took the bag "It's up to you I guess."

"Okay then" Natsu said while watching Lucy, she looked well uncomfortable. She was shifting from foot to foot and seemed to be avoiding his eyes.

"Well I'm going to go put this inside" Lucy said taking a step backwards before checking behind her to see where the curb was. Stepping up onto the curb she turned her back to Natsu and began to walk towards her apartment building before stopping herself. She couldn't believe what she was doing! She had planned for this and she needed to do it! But she was practically running away while lying to herself that Natsu might bring Happy to her house and she could tell him then. Gritting her teeth she dropped her bag while she faintly heard Natsu say her name.

Tightly balling up her fists she turned around to Natsu with her eyes still staring down at the ground. She once again heard him say her name, she figured by now he was walking towards probably with some concerned look on his face that if she looked up would make her heart melt. Taking a deep breath she quickly looked back up and met Natsu's eyes. He had obviously begun to walk towards her to see what was wrong because he was only a few feet away.

Shutting out all her doubts she opened her mouth and said just loud enough for him to hear "Natsu Dragneel, I love you." She instantly felt her cheeks heat up and her heart began to pound loudly in her ears. Natsu's face was as red if not redder than hers. He opened his mouth if to say something but nothing came out.

Lucy soon began to talk rapidly, spilling out all her feelings towards him as a way to fill the silence "I really do love you, I have for so long. I can hardly remember now the day that it hit me but I really do and so hard because sometimes I don't know if you feel the same. But I don't really care because even if you don't feel the same I won't stop loving you because I've never felt better than when I fell in love with you. You're just, I don't even know! It's just I love and-"Lucy said become frantic before she realized that Natsu was now directly in front of her and she hadn't even noticed that he had gotten closer. The only way to describe his face was ecstatic "Natsu?" she said quietly her brows knitting together in confusion as she awaited his response.

She was then pulled into a tight hug by Natsu. His arms wrapped around her waist as he hugged her tight, it was a few seconds before he began to talk "You don't know how happy I am to hear that" he muttered.

"I'd really like to know" Lucy muttered back before hesitantly wrapping her arms around him as well.

"Well Lucy I also am very much in love with you" those words instantly made Lucy's heart squeeze as she sucked in her breath, she began to feel tears well up in her eyes. "Mavis, I love you so much. I have since like the first time I talked to you."

"That seems unlikely" Lucy said before letting out a giddy laugh.

"Well the minute I met you it felt like someone had shot me in the heart and then when I finally talked to you it was like, I don't know. It just felt right, I honestly don't know. I'm terrible at these kinds of things" Natsu said laughing.

"I can tell" Lucy said joining in his laughter.

Their laughter slowly dwindled before Lucy heard Natsu ask "So can I like kiss you now or…?"

Laughing again she pulled away a little from the hug to look him in the face "Do you even need to ask?"

"I don't know, I just like to know if-"Natsu said before Lucy interjected.

"Just shut up and kiss me you idiot" Lucy said taking her hands away from his waist and placing them on his jaw.

"Ok then weirdo" Natsu muttered loosening his grip on her waist before bending down to meet his lips with hers. The kiss was simple but yet so full of passion. Lucy could hardly believe it, she had finally done it. She had finally told Natsu how she felt and he had felt the same and now they were kissing in front of her apartment building….well that wasn't that bad actually.

When they pulled away Lucy could feel her lips tingling and Natsu had a big grin on his face. "I think maybe you should bring Happy back to my place" she mumbled.

"Yeah I think I should" Natsu mumbled back before capturing her lips again.

* * *

A/N: After 31 chapters 100 word document pages it finally happened. Now I can start writing my favorite things fluff and domestic stuff. But I won't be posting next week due to being away from home.


	32. What's Next?

Natsu did come back to drop Happy off at Lucy's place. But when he entered her apartment he was greeted by silence. Setting Happy down on the floor he heard a meow from Happy before he went to look for Lucy. He ended up finding her on her couch asleep. Chuckling softly he figured she was still tired from everything that had happened. Plus it seemed like she had been stressing over telling him her feelings. Though he couldn't really talk, he was pretty beat too.

Deciding he couldn't just leave her on the couch to get a kink in her neck. He bended down and slipped in one hand under her knees and the other under her back. Picking her up he carried her into her bedroom where Happy was currently residing on her bed.

Laying her down on the bed he pulled the blanket, that Happy had been laying on, from underneath him. He earned himself an angry meow from the cat before he covered Lucy with the blanket. Heading out of the room he mumbled "goodnight" before leaving.

When Lucy woke up the next morning she was surprised to see herself in bed with Happy sleeping on her stomach. That would've mean that Natsu had come by to drop him off but she couldn't remember anything after he left to get him. So that meant she had probably fallen asleep. But how she would've made it to her bed was a mystery.

Picking Happy up, she put him down on the bed next to her before sitting up. Stretching her arms she figured she'd better get ready if she wanted to get to work on time. As per usual she did get ready on time, which really just meant that she got ready before the time Natsu was supposed to pick her up for work. But he was ten minutes late as usual. As she walked out of her apartment she couldn't help but wonder what Natsu and hers relationship was now.

While they had both had confessed their feelings and did feel the same for each other, they hadn't really questioned the now what part. Sighing as she stepped out the building she spotted Natsu's car coming down the street. Well there was no better time to talk about it than the present.

She reached the curb just as Natsu pulled up to it. Opening the passenger's side she got into the car and said "Morning" as she pulled the seatbelt across her body.

"Morning Luce" Natsu said before leaning over and pressing his lips to her cheek. Feeling her stiffen under his lips he quickly pulled back "Shit, sorry Luce I just thought that it was okay after last night but I mean-"

"No, no" Lucy said waving her hands "It's just that I wasn't used to it and uh I mean I'm totally fine with it. I was just surprised that's all" Lucy finished as she felt her face heat up.

"Oh" Natsu said glancing away from Lucy "Um ok then" he said rubbing the back of his neck. Lucy watched him as she considered how to ask the question of 'now what'. She could always just blurt it out like she did yesterday but still, the question felt awkward. But now was not the time to act awkward.

"So um" Lucy began as she turned to Natsu just as he turned to her and said the same. Both paused and waited for the other to continue.

"You go first" Natsu said while nodding at her, he really didn't mind waiting to ask his question.

"No, no you go first. I can wait" Lucy said, also fine with waiting to ask her question.

"No really, just tell me what you have to say Luce. Mine can wait" Natsu said letting out an awkward laugh.

"Natsu?" Lucy said staring him down.

"Yes?" Natsu answered hesitantly.

"I don't feel like playing this back and fourth game, just tell me what you have to say now" Lucy said while continuing to stare him down "I don't want to be late for work, ok?"

"Yeah ok" Natsu said deciding he definitely didn't want to be in Lucy's wrath if he wanted his question to go over well.

He waited until he exited Lucy's road before he asked the question that had been nagging him since the night before. "So, um Luce" Natsu began bringing Lucy's attention back to him "I'm just wondering about this but what exactly are we?"

"Um human?"

"I'm not asking literally, I'm asking what exactly our relationship is now. Like I don't know, are we dating or are we like, what becomes before dating? I mean I don't want to think something that you don't think we are, and if we're not dating then how can we get there and-"

"Okay Natsu, take a deep breath and calm down" Lucy said stopping him "I was going to ask you pretty much the same question, just with you know, less words."

"Oh oka-"Natsu began before Lucy quickly stopped him.

"Stop, let me talk. Not another word out of your mouth until then. Just keep your eyes on the road so we make it to work in one piece. Got it?" Lucy said while watching Natsu nod his head. "I'm not really one hundred percent sure what our relationship is right now. I mean I want us to be together so I'm fine with us being a couple right after confessing our feelings" Lucy said before taking a deep breath "But" she began, quickly catching Natsu's attention "I think you need to take me on a date first before we can make it official."

Lucy waited for Natsu to reply but he wasn't saying anything. "Um Natsu, are you going to answer or am I going to take that as a no for the date?"

"Huh" Natsu said breaking out of whatever trance he was in. Glancing over to Lucy he saw the questioning look on her face and quickly said "Oh well yeah, a date is a great idea."

"So are you going to ask me on a date or am I going to have to ask you?" Lucy asked, had he not been paying attention to her or what.

"Uh, how about Friday? For the date I mean" Natsu said while glancing over at her again. She seemed to be thinking it over. Turning his attention back to the road he figured she'd answer him soon.

"Sure" Lucy said, breaking the silence "I'd love to, but still Natsu" Lucy said with a sly grin "Asking me out for tomorrow night, are you excited or something?"

"What? No it's just that I thought-"Natsu said trying to come up with a good reason for her before stopping once he heard her laughing. Looking over at her he said "What are you laughing about?"

"Nothing" Lucy said trying to muffle her laughter by covering her mouth "It's fine, I don't care what day you're asking me out on a date. I'd be happy any day you ask me, except if you had tried to take me out tonight. I need to catch up on the work I'll need to grade tonight" Lucy said before reaching over and patting him on the shoulder. She could tell he was pouting about her teasing him.

"Oh don't pout you bag baby" she said before leaning over and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. The surprised noise he made sent her giggling all while he kept telling her it was her fault for surprising him.

"Well" Natsu began once she had stopped laughing "If I have any papers to grade I might stop by and grade my papers with you."

"Sure" Lucy said, rolling her eyes as they pulled into the schools parking lot "You probably left no worksheets for them at all."

"You don't know that" Natsu said defensively as he pulled into a parking spot "Besides you might need help grading all of your papers."

"True, I guess I can put you to work if you come over" Lucy said as she grabbed her bag and unbuckled her seatbelt.

"I know you love it when you can use me for free labor" Natsu said as he got out of the car.

"Well your right about that" Lucy replied back as she walked around the car to meet up with him "And besides, you did offer your help."

Sliding up next to her Natsu said "That I did but I do plan on asking for some type of payment" before wiggling his eyebrows.

"So help me if you say something cheesy like a kiss or a hug I'm going to punch you in the stomach" Lucy said with a roll of her eyes as they walked towards the school.

"Man Luce" Natsu said acting dejected "You take the fun out of everything."

"Do I?" she asked as they reached the front of the school.

Reaching over to open the Natsu replied "Fine if you won't go along with it then I want to pick out what we watch."

Going through the door she looked back at him and said "Sure, as long as it's not too gruesome."

"Aww come on Luce do you really think I would pick out something you hate on purpose" Natsu asked as he followed her inside.

"Yes, I do" she said before noticing a flash of blue. What happened next she honestly should've expected.

"So Lu" came a voice from behind Lucy. Whirling around Lucy was greeted by the sight of Levy with a rather large grin on her face "How was your trip?"

"Oh uh, it was nice I guess" Lucy said not looking her friend in the eye. She was not going to tell her the entire story in such a public space.

"Hey Natsu" Levy said turning her attention to him. Grinning she said "I heard while you were gone Sting brought the basketball hoop down."

"What?!" Natsu squawked before heading towards the gym. Turning around he waved at Lucy and said "I'll come see you at lunch."

"Please don't skip your own class" Lucy called after him to only get the reply of another wave. Sighing she turned her attention to Levy who looked far too happy for a work day. She was soon surprised when Levy grabbed her arm and began to pull her towards the library. For such a small girl she was surprisingly strong.

When they reached the library Levy let go of her arm before grabbing her shoulders. Staring Lucy down Levy asked "So is it true what Gajeel told me?"

"Gajeel?" Lucy asked even though Levy only seemed to be listening for the words yes or no.

"Did you or did you not hook up with Natsu while you were on that trip?" Levy asked with such seriousness you'd think she'd be asking if the world was about to end.

"W-what?!" Lucy sputtered as she felt her face heat up.

"Well did you?" Levy asked taking her hands off Lucy's shoulders and relocating to her own hips.

"Not exactly?" Lucy responded hesitantly. It looked like by the end of the day the entire school would know of Natsu and her's relationship development.

"Well then tell me what exactly happened" Levy huffed.

"To sum it up we got drunk one night and I told him I loved him, I still don't know how he responded but I know for sure that we made out which resulted in a hickey. Then when we got back home yesterday I confessed which then led to Natsu confessing and um yeah" Lucy said before waiting for Levy to ask the numerous questions she probably had.

"Wait you have a hickey?" Levy asked cocking her head to the side.

"Mavis I just told you how Natsu and I have finally confessed and the first thing you have to say is about my hickey?" Lucy exclaimed while throwing her hands in the air.

"Well I don't see it?"

"Concealer you dummy, it exists."

"Oh right, anyway" Levy said "Are you guys like officially together?"

"Yes and no" Lucy replied as she watched Levy's face fall.

"How is it both!?" Levy yelled angrily.

"Well we confessed and we want to be a couple but I told him before we become official he's going to have to take me on a date first" Lucy exclaimed as she tried to stop her friend from ripping her hair out.

"I swear to god Lu you make me want to strangle something, preferably you" Levy muttered as she massaged her temples.

"Well excuse me" Lucy replied with a huff.

"At least the two of you have taken a big step forward. Make sure to update me once you go on that date" Levy said as she began to head towards a cart of books.

"Yes, yes" Lucy replied before heading to her classroom. Now if she could make it through the day without Cana or Mirajane harassing her it would be a miracle.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for updating late. I've had a pretty bad writers block since I've come back home. I hope to have the next chapter posted on time though.


	33. Grading and Cuddles

Lucy almost made it through the whole day without a single visit from Cana or Mira. Though as she packing up and was getting ready to leave she would learn that the two had actually had a plan of how they were going to harass her. Natsu would be popping by soon to see if she was ready to leave. He was later than normal but that was probably due to him still yelling Sting's ear off about the hoop incident.

Sighing, she was considering just going to him when her door slammed open. Jumping Lucy looked over to see who the imposter was when she saw it was actually imposters. Standing in the doorway she saw Levy accompanied by both Cana and Mira. It looked like she was about to be bombarded.

She waited quietly as the three approached her desk. Once they reached her desk before anyone of them could open their mouths Lucy simply said "So what are you here to talk to me about? I'm pretty sure I didn't have a meeting planned for this afternoon."

Lucy watched as Cana smirked before she opened her mouth "Well Lucy it seems you've thrown Mira and I out of the loop" Cana said while casually throwing her arm around Mirajane "And Levy, being the wonderful friend she is, told us what apparently has happened between you and Natsu and honestly we're just shocked you didn't tell us sooner. I mean I thought I was your best friend Lucy!"

Sighing as she placed her hand against her forehead, Lucy's face pinched up as she replied "Well you see I was hoping on having a normal first day back with no harassment. But since Levy has Gajeel as her personal correspondent that will relay anything Natsu tells him to her, it seems she already knew before I even stepped foot into work."

"Well not all of us are dating Natsu's brother!" Cana said while unwrapping her arm from Mirajane's shoulders to place it on her hip "So you have to expect us to be out of the loop."

Sighing once again she turned towards Mirajane and asked "You've been unusually quiet, don't you have anything to say about this?"

Smiling at Lucy Mirajane said "While I do have many questions, I'm waiting for Cana to finish her ranting before asking. I mean Levy didn't ask you nearly enough questions about what happened."

"Hey" Levy interjected "I already told you, I needed to put library books away! I can't just stop doing my job because Natsu and Lucy are 'almost' together."

"About that" Cana said butting in before giving Lucy an angry stare "What is this whole 'we're not together yet even though we've made out like four times and even confessed our love for each' thing that's going on. I mean everyone pretty much knows you two want to get it on so why are you not making it 'official' until you've gone on a date!" Cana yelled all while making air quote signals at certain parts.

"Uh well you see" Lucy said looking away from the three girls.

"What is it Lucy?" Mirajane asked.

"I kinda sorta just maybejustwanttogoonadatewithNatsu" Lucy said quickly as her face quickly reddened.

"Wait what was that?" Levy asked looking confused.

"Oh my god Lucy seriously" Cana said before laughing.

"Don't laugh at me Cana!" Lucy yelled as her face reddened even more.

"Wait, what's going on?" Mirajane asked.

"Lucy" Cana wheezed "That is such a stupid excuse; I don't even know how to responded. Just, why? Honestly if you're dating you can go on a date any time you want."

"What's going on, what did Lucy say?" Levy asked still very much confused.

"This idiot" Cana said while pointing at an angry Lucy "Just wants to go on a date with Natsu so she pretty much told him they had to go on a date first because she wants to go on a date with him."

"That makes….no sense Lu" Levy said staring at her friend confused once again.

"Honestly I don't know why I said that" Lucy said before burying her face in her hands "I mean I haven't been on a date in almost two years" well there had been that thing with Sting, but only he thought they were on a date "Plus I haven't been in a relationship for even longer. I guess, I don't know, I wanted to do it conventual or something."

"Lucy" Mirajane began "Conventual now a days tends to be….well how should I put this? Cana?"

"Pretty much you're talking like fifteen years back conventional" Cana said.

"Still" Lucy said, taking her head out of her hands "My reason may be stupid but I'm fine with it and Natsu seemed to think nothing was wrong with it."

"Okay then Lu, whatever you say" Levy said "Now then I think its question time!"

Natsu was pretty pissed at the moment as he walked towards Lucy's classroom. How could Sting have been stupid enough to let the basketball hoop get ripped off, and by himself to make it even worse. Honestly if he wasn't such a nice guy Natsu would probably hate him by now, but the explanation he had given him was ridiculous. Sting had pretty much let the kids get him riled up enough to break it. But too bad for Sting, he was the one who was going to fix.

As he approached Lucy's door he heard other voices, all female, coming from inside. It looked like Lucy was getting a visit from her friends. Thankfully all his friends asked if he had finally told Lucy his feelings and when he told them yes they pretty much dropped it.

The door was already opened so he figured he'd just stand outside until Lucy was done with whatever the girls were planning to make her do. It turned out that they had only planned to ask Lucy a million questions about what had happened during the trip. He was starting to consider making his presence known so he could just ask Lucy if she was ready to leave, which he was pretty sure she would be happy to escape her friends prying questions.

He was about to say something when Cana opened her mouth "So Lucy" Cana said slyly "I hear you have hickey. I can assume it's from Natsu?"

"Levy, you told Cana about that" Lucy hissed.

"Well" Levy said avoiding Lucy's glare "I did tell them everything you told me, I thought you would've figured that."

"Yeah but did you need to tell that part to Cana!" Lucy exclaimed while gesturing towards the brunette.

"Oh come on Lucy, what do you think I'm going to do, nothing at all" Cana said innocently.

"Uh huh" Lucy said skeptically.

"But you know" Cana said her face forming a devious smile "It seems Natsu likes to bite."

"Cana, no" Lucy warned.

"I bet he'll be a real animal in bed" Cana exclaimed before letting out a loud laugh.

"Cana!" Lucy yelled, her face turning red as she leaned over her desk to try to catch Cana. For what? Probably to strangle her. Mirajane just stood and watched with a smile on her face while Levy just shook her head. It was then Natsu decided it might be best for him to step in now before Lucy strangled Cana. Plus he was pretty sure he didn't want to hear where this was heading.

Stepping into the room he cleared his throat, gaining the attention of Mira and Levy. "Hey so um Lucy, you ready to go or are you getting a ride from one of the girls?"

"Natsu" Lucy said relived to finally have a way to escape her friends "Yeah I'm ready" she said grabbing her bag she quickly headed towards the door. Turning around she gave her friends a wave and said "We can finish this conversation tomorrow."

"Man Natsu" Cana said "You ruin all our fun."

"Sorry?" Natsu said before following Lucy.

"Damn" Cana huffed "He left before I could finish the joke."

"Cana I'm sure you've harassed Lucy enough for the day, you don't need to bother Natsu as well" Mirajane said.

"Oh like you're an angel Mira" Cana said with a roll of her eyes "We all knew that you were going to ask the same question as me if I hadn't asked first."

"Maybe I should've waited until tomorrow to tell you what Lucy told me" Levy muttered.

"So what exactly was the point of this essay again?" Natsu asked, looking down at Lucy with a raised eyebrow.

Sighing Lucy looked up at him and replied "For the fifth time, they assignment was to write a personal story about something that happened in their life and how it affected them."

"Oh okay then, I wasn't sure if this really counted as a personal story but it does say how it affected them" Natsu said while glancing over the essay again.

"Natsu if it's not a personal story it doesn't count" Lucy said before turning her attention back to the essay in her hand "If it's not a personal story just give them a failing grade."

"That's harsh Luce" Natsu said as he read the essay she had from over her shoulder.

"Well this is from my juniors, so I except them to understand what to do by now" Lucy said before readjusting herself.

"Okay then" Natsu said while taking the pen in his hand and scribbling an F on the paper.

"And don't just put the letter F on there" Lucy said without looking up "Just give them a 59 or something."

Making a face Natsu then scribbled a 59 under the F "How many more papers do you have Luce, I mean we've been at it since like four" Natsu whined before looking at his watch "And now it's eight! Four hours of grading! How do you do it?!"

Sighing Lucy said "What do you think I do on the weekend? Anyway we're almost done. After these essays there's only one stack of papers left."

"Can we order pizza when we're done?" Natsu asked while bending over and grabbing the next essay.

"Sure I am pretty hungry" Lucy replied before adding "Grab me another essay too."

Grabbing another essay Natsu asked "Will you pay?"

"We can spilt the bill" Luc said while taking an essay from his hand.

"Oh come on Lucy, it's like eight dollars for an entire pizza, plus it's not like you only live on a teacher's salary anymore like I do" Natsu said while watching her from the corner of his eye for a reaction.

Sighing Lucy said "Fine I'll pay for the pizza, it's not like it's a big deal."

"Woo free pizza!" Natsu yelled as Happy trotted up to the side of the sofa. "Hey buddy" Natsu said when he noticed the feline. Leaning over a bit so he could pet him he commented "You're looking a little less blue."

"Oh yeah" Lucy said "Apparently he got into something while at Gajeel's and Levy's, so they gave him a bath. It looks like the blue was hair dye or something that he must've gotten into."

"Well I think he looked pretty good in blue, I'm not sure I want to see it go" Natsu muttered before going back to grading the essay.

"You are not going to re-dye Happy blue" Lucy said.

"Still, how many pet owners get to say their cats are blue!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Well you can say he was once blue" Lucy said while taking her feet from out from underneath her. Glancing over at Natsu she figured he wouldn't care if she used his lap as a footrest.

"Oi, what do you think you're doing?" Natsu said when he felt Lucy put her feet across his legs.

"What?" Lucy asked innocently "My feet were starting to bother me. It's not like you mind."

"Damn, why did I ever tell you that" Natsu muttered before returning his attention back to the essay.

They eventually finished and when they did, like promised, Lucy ordered pizza and paid for it.

"There you go" Lucy said as she placed the pizza on the coffee table "I hope you're happy that I paid for it."

"Oh come on Luce" Natsu said as he opened the box and grabbed a slice "Technically you're a billionaire now because of the inheritance, right?"

Sighing as she sat down on the couch, Lucy grabbed a slice of pizza as well while responding "I guess, but I mean I plan to use it for important things" Lucy said before taking a bite of her pizza "I mean I'll use some of it to pay off the rest of my student loans, and when I get a house someday I can for it with the money. Maybe go on a nice trip over the summer or something and I don't know honestly" taking another bite she continued "I'm trying not to think much about. Much less what I'm going to do about the house."

Nodding his head as he grabbed another slice of pizza Natsu figured that was the responsible thing to do but "Maybe you should do something really spontaneous with it at some point like going to Las Vegas or going on a yearlong trip to Europe. Oooh and haven't you talked about writing a book or something."

Smiling and shaking her head Lucy said "I don't know that's not really my style."

"I know that's why it would be spontaneous" Natsu said pointing his slice of pizza at her "Live on the edge a little."

"I think I'm fine where I am" Lucy replied.

"Sure, you may feel fine today but what about years from now, you might regret it" Natsu said not really sure what point he was trying to get across but just going with what was coming out of his mouth.

Taking a bite of her pizza Lucy rolled her eyes and said "Natsu what is the point of this argument exactly?"

"I….don't really know" Natsu said before finishing the slice of pizza in his hand.

Letting out a groan Lucy exclaimed "Then why did you continue with it if you didn't even have a plan."

"I don't know" Natsu said with a shrug while grabbing his third slice of pizza "I just, well kept up with a topic at hand."

"Ugh" Lucy said as she fell back into the sofa "You drive me crazy."

"But in a good" Natsu said as he continued eating his pizza. Lucy didn't respond, she only stared at him with pinched lips. "Oh come on Lucy" Natsu said as he placed the slice of pizza he had in his hands on the box "You know you love me."

"That doesn't mean you don't drive me up the walls sometimes" Lucy said just as Natsu wrapped his arms around her waist. "Natsu!" Lucy shrieked as Natsu fell backwards onto the couch do that his back was on the couch and she was directly on top of him.

"Sorry Luce" Natsu laughed as he tightened his grip around her "Can't let go of you until you agree with me." When he saw her face turn into a pout he started laughing all over again.

"Natsu" Lucy yelled as she hit him in the chest "Stop laughing at me!"

"What'cha going to do about it?" Natsu said before laughing again. While the first thought that came to her head she tried to brush the idea away. But she knew it would definitely shut him up plus she was in the right position. So she went with it and kissed Natsu so he would shut up. And, well to say the least it did stop his laughing.

The kiss was quick but intense. When Lucy pulled away she said "See, I shut you up."

Natsu was quiet for a few seconds before responding "Yeah, I guess you did."

"Too bad I didn't figure this out earlier on" Lucy teased "Or I would've done it a long time ago."

"Don't joke around like that" Natsu said "You would've never had the nerve to do it."

"That's what you say but who was the one who initiated that make out session while we were away on the trip" Lucy said while laughing. Though when she looked at Natsu her heart stopped for a second when she saw his shocked face. "Wait you didn't know-"

"You remembered that?" Natsu said cutting her question off.

"Uh yeah, well not all of it, just when we were walking back to the hotel. I kinda just figured out we probably made out because you gave me a hickey and-wait you remember everything that happened that night?" Lucy said quickly changing the conversation back to him.

"Well not everything just what happened after we got back to the hotel" Natsu said.

"So one of us remembered half of what happened" Lucy began.

"And the other remembered the other half" Natsu finished. The two looked at each other before Natsu burst out laughing in which Lucy soon followed in suit.

"Man" Natsu laughed "We're a mess aren't we?"

"I swear" Lucy said before pausing to laugh "This kind of stuff always happens to us." Laying her head on Natsu's chest she mumbled "Honestly we could've gotten together sooner if it wasn't for the fact neither of us worked up enough courage after that first kiss to tell the other how we felt."

"Well" Natsu began as he loosened his grip around Lucy's waist "We always have to do it the hard way, huh?"

Letting out a small laugh Lucy said "Yeah we do."

"So you wanna watch that show I told you about or…" Natsu said as he used his head to motion towards the TV.

"Yeah sure" Lucy said "But sit up a bit. If we're going to cuddle we're going to do this right."

"So demanding" Natsu teased as he sat up "There better?"

"Much" Lucy said as she turned on the TV.

* * *

A/N: Due to convince I'm changing updates to Monday.


	34. The Official Date

Lucy was ready, or at least pretending to be ready. Work had been somewhat uneventful except for the fact that every time she had a second of peace Cana and Mira would magically appear behind her. Levy had apparently given up harassing Lucy and said she'd just wait for Lucy to call her after her date. Speaking of the date Natsu was supposed to pick her up in ten minutes and she honestly had no idea what he had planned. There was no way they were going somewhere fancy. Two days was not enough time to get reservations, or at least she was pretty sure it wasn't. Shaking her head she stared at her reflection in the mirror. It was going to be fine. Yes Natsu saw a good time as going to an arcade but it's not like he would take her there on a date.

Giving herself a pep talk, she smoothed out her skirt. Hopefully she didn't look too dressed up if they ended up doing something crazy. Sighing she checked her watch, if Natsu was to show up on time then he should end up arriving in a few minutes.

Feeling something brush up against her leg she looked down and saw Happy rubbing against her leg. Bending down she said "You want your dinner don't you?" while scratching him behind the ear. Deciding she had time to kill before Natsu arrived, she went into the kitchen with Happy following closely behind.

Setting down his food she figured she should start heading downstairs so she'd be ready when Natsu arrived. As she was about to open the door she heard a knock. Surprised she opened the door; Natsu would normally just use the key he had to open the door. But when she opened the door it was Natsu standing outside.

Gone was the normal t-shirt and gym shorts, replaced with a pair of jeans, a nice shirt and a scarf and damn did he look nice. Upon closer observation of the scarf she realized it was the one that his father had given him. He normally wears it all year round except during the hotter months of summer. So it looks like it had returned.

"Umm Lucy, did you hear me?" Natsu asked cocking his head to the side.

"Huh? Oh no I didn't, could you repeat it?" Lucy said feeling her cheeks heat up. Apparently she had been too busy staring at him to hear what he was saying.

"I just asked if you're ready to go" Natsu said before exclaiming "Oh wait I forgot."

"What did you forget?" Lucy asked starting to get a bit worried.

"I got you flowers but I kinda left them in the car" Natsu said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.

"You got me flowers?" Lucy asked surprised.

"Wat, yeah I did cause I remember the last date you went on you were mumbling about the guy didn't even give you flowers or something" Natsu said with a shrug "But if you don't want them-"

"No, no it's fine. I love flowers" Lucy said quickly, it was true the last date she went on was a disaster. The guy had rescheduled it four times before they finally went out and then entire night had pretty much been about him. So yeah she had been pretty pissed off when she had finally went home. The only upside of that night had been when Natsu crashed her apartment.

"Cool" Natsu said "So you ready to go?"

"Yes I am, lead the way" Lucy said jokingly.

"Of course your highness" Natsu said with a little bow before looping his arm around hers. The two laughed while they skipped, well while Natsu attempted to skip, down the hallway. Somehow Natsu managed to run into the stairs but they made it down them.

"So Luce" Natsu said when they reached his car "You ready for the best date ever!?" he asked while waving his hands around.

Laughing she said "Do your worst."

"Well that's the complete opposite of what I plan to do" Natsu said while shaking his head "Now then let us leave."

"Ok then" Lucy said with a laugh while getting into the car. Once she got inside she saw Natsu grabbing something from the backseat. Once he turned back around he presented her with what had to be the flowers he had been telling her about.

"See I did get you some flowers" he said.

Laughing while she took them she said "This dates already ranking higher than the last one."

"Yes I'm winning!" Natsu said.

"Ok then" Lucy said as the pulled away from her apartment building "What do you have planned. It's only five so it not we have to eat first."

"That's a secret" Natsu said "I don't want to spoil any of my plans."

"Then I guess I can do nothing but sit back and wait huh?" Lucy asked.

"I guess" Natsu said with a shrug before smiling "Though I know you're going to love the first place I'm going to take you."

"Oh? What is it a museum, a library?" Lucy asked jokingly.

"Close but nope!" Natsu responded. On the drive to wherever Natsu was taking them they filled the ride with small talk of how there day had been with Lucy throwing in a few ideas of where she thought he was taking her. But she always guessed wrong.

It took her awhile before she noticed but once she did she asked Natsu "We left Magnolia."

"Yes we have, that was about fifteen minutes ago" Natsu replied "We should be there in like ten minutes."

"Were about to enter Crocus" Lucy said "What are you planning on taking me too that's here?"

"What do you think I'm planning on taking you too?"

"I'm not entirely sure" Lucy replied. Crocus was the biggest city near them and was full of a bunch of things. Most of the museums she loved were in the city. But she knew museums weren't really Natsu's thing so that crossed all of them out. But she only had ten minutes until she found out where they were going and now she was starting to get excited.

When the ten minutes were almost up the closest thing to them was "Wait Natsu" Lucy said turning to look at him while trying to hold her excitement "You're not taking me to where I think you are."

"I don't know Lucy, what have you been obsessing over since it opened last year?" Natsu as he pulled into a parking lot.

"No way!" Lucy shrieked "You're taking me to Crocus observatory!?"

"Well you've found me out" Natsu said with a smile "I figured since you haven't gone yet I'd take you to finally see it."

"Oh my god you're the best Natsu!" Lucy yelled not even trying to hold in her excitement anymore.

"I try" he said as he tried to focus on the task of finding a parking spot. Lucy was pretty much bouncing in her seat until Natsu parked the car, and once out she seemed to be practically vibrating. Well at least he could tell he made a good choice by choosing to come here.

"Come on" Lucy said while grabbing Natsu by his wrist before heading towards the observatory.

"You're in a rush" Natsu said while laughing "Was I going to slow or something?"

"No, I just want to get inside. I heard there's laser shows and stuff every hour. There needs to be something that holds your attention" Lucy answered.

"Ooooo laser shows" Natsu said his eyes lighting up.

"And before you ask they are not the lasers your thinking of" Lucy said turning around to look.

Looking at her Natsu asked "What lasers do you think I think they have?"

"The ones in the spy movies that burn through walls" Lucy deadpanned as they reached the steps to the building.

"I'm not that stupid" Natsu said while rolling his eyes "It's those lasers magicians and circuses have."

"Okay then" Lucy said as the two began there trek up the steps "I just didn't want you to be disappointed if they didn't cut something in half."

"I'll be fine" Natsu said "So what is exactly at an observatory?"

"Did you look at their website?" Lucy asked.

"Yes but I only looked at the address" Natsu answered "Isn't it pretty much a really big telescope?"

"I guess in simple terms it is" Lucy said "But ones open to the general public have stuff like laser shows and stuff like that."

"Do they let you look through the big telescope?" Natsu asked.

"If they did I wouldn't let you" Lucy said as they reached the top of the stairs.

"What do you mean?" Natsu whined "It's not like I'd break it."

"You might try not to but I mean you don't have a good track record. Remember that art museum that we're both banned from?" Lucy asked.

"What, I told them it wasn't my fault that the sculpture fell over. It was that five year old" Natsu said as they walked into the observatory.

"Well he wasn't there when security found you" Lucy said before stopping to stare at awe. The ceiling was huge and planets and galaxies hung from the ceiling.

"It's not like it was broken or anything" Natsu mumbled before looking over at Lucy who looked like she was about to explode with happiness. Smiling he decided he'd leave her and go buy the tickets. Once he had bought the tickets Lucy had disappeared from the spot she had been originally.

"Crap" Natsu muttered as he looked for her. She would get lost before they had even gotten in. He began to search for her so he wouldn't have to tell Levy he had lost Lucy before they before the date had even started.

"Did you know they had tours around the observatory?" Jumping Natsu turned around to see a not at all lost Lucy.

"Uh no I didn't" Natsu said, pretending he hadn't thought she had gotten lost.

"Yep, there's one before the next laser show. We should go on it" Lucy said grabbing his arm, the smile on her face growing.

"Sure you might need to tell me what they're talking about but other than that I'll be fine" Natsu said jokingly.

Rolling her eyes Lucy said "Okay then Natsu. But we need to go over by that group of people over there" Lucy said while pointing at a group while also dragging him towards them.

"Okay I get your excited" Natsu said "But you know I can walk by myself right?"

"Oh" Lucy said stopping before looking at her hand that was wrapped around his arm. She hadn't exactly realized that she had grabbed. She also had conveniently forgotten that Natsu was very muscular and-

"So am I going to get my arm back or do you want to keep it?"

"Huh, oh yeah you can have it backs" Lucy said letting go of his arm hoping that het face didn't turn red "Sorry."

"Its fine" Natsu said "Now come on didn't you say we need to get to some area or something to go on that tour or.."

"Oh yeah right" Lucy said "Come on its right over here." Once they had gotten into the group Lucy had gotten slightly quieter than he had expected her to be while waiting to go on a tour of something that she had wanted to see since it had been opened. So Natsu took the liberty of being the louder one by chattering away and asking Lucy questions every once in a while.

But finally the tour started and Lucy became the good type of quiet. Where she was only quiet because she was in awe of what she was looking at. Natsu didn't really listen to the lady that was leading the tour; Lucy did and was nodding along to practically everything she said.

The observatory was pretty cool looking and the telescope was even cooler. Unfortunately much to Lucy's sadness it was only open to the public on Sundays.

"Sorry about that Luce" Natsu said leaning over to whisper to her "I should've looked at the website more."

"Its fine" she whispered back "I'll just come back one day on a Sunday."

Other than that the tour was uneventful. The tour ended once they reached the main lobby and now all there was to do was wait twenty minutes for the laser show. The two found a bench to sit on while they waited.

"Man I bet this is going to be so awesome" Natsu said turning to look over at Lucy.

"I guess" Lucy said "I don't think I've been to a laser show or at least I can't remember ever going to one."

"Then we'll both be surprised once it starts" Natsu said.

"It's almost a half an hour so it has to have a lot of stuff involved" Lucy said while looking over at the doors that were still tightly closed.

"I bet it'll start off with something like space the final frontier" Natsu said while holding his hands out.

Laughing Lucy shook her head and said "I don't think so."

"You wanna make a bet?"

Rolling her eyes she was about to respond when the doors opened and a lady stepped out while saying "The show will begin in a few moments."

"Come on Luce" Natsu said, grabbing her hand and standing up.

"Now who's dragging who where?" Lucy asked while Natsu pulled her towards the room.

"It's not like you're not excited" Natsu replied as they entered the room. It was dimly lighted and the seats circled the room. Natsu pulled her towards a seat in the front. It was then that she noticed the large circular object in the center of the room. She figured it was most likely the device that the lasers came out of.

"This is going to be so cool" Lucy heard Natsu mumbled from beside her. Rolling her eyes she sat back in her seat and waited for the show to start. As she watched people trickle in she couldn't help but notice Natsu bouncing in his seat. Holding back a laugh she couldn't help but think how he was almost like a big kid, who was the excited one now huh?

Opening her mouth she was about to say something when the lights started to go off. "Oooo it's about to start Lucy" Natsu said while staring at the center of the room.

After the doors a cheerful female voice filled the room "Space" she began as stars appeared on the ceiling "The final frontier" Lucy could feel Natsu turn to her with a big grin on his friend.

"Okay Natsu you win" she huffed at him before turning her attention back to the voice.

"The vast unknown and infinite plane" the voice said as the stars began to swirl around "Its man biggest dream to explore this place" the stars began to change colors as she spoke.

"On behalf of the Crocus Observatory we would like to thank you for visiting, please enjoy the show" she finished as the stars faded out and the room went black. Then blue light pierced the darkness. It passed over them until it reached the ceiling before it turned into individual strips of light that began to dance around the room. The colors soon began to change from green, to purple, to yellow and soon different colors were dancing across the room.

Then once again the room went black only for light to pierce it once again. But this time rainbow colored lights that quickly moved up them before ending half way between them and the ceiling. The lights soon began to move up and down in a waving motion before they began to swirl once again.

Numerous different colors of light then graced the room swirling and moving around each other. The colors kept changing as well as their movements, and once they thought that it was over as the lights slowly faded away swirls of color entered the room once again. They swirled around the room until they became individual beams of light once again and then the room went dark.

The lights then turned on to signal the end of the show. Lucy was honestly a little taken back from what she had just watched; it had ended up being a lot more entertaining then she had thought. Turning to Natsu she simply said "So?" and waited for his response, and the one she got was pretty much exactly what she had been expecting.

"That…was so awesome!" Natsu exclaimed turning to Lucy, he looked like he was sparkling.

"Yeah it was pretty cool" Lucy said nodding her head in agreement as she stood up. Everyone else was leaving and she didn't want to be those people who got the evil eye for staying behind for too long. Thankfully Natsu got the message and began to stand up to.

"Man I'll drive you back here whatever Sunday you want to watch that again" he said as they walked towards the exit.

Giggling Lucy replied "That's good to know."

Once they exited into the main room once again Lucy took notice of how dark it had gotten. "What time is it?" Lucy asked aloud while looking around for a clock.

"It's like six thirty" Natsu said while examining the watch he had luckily decided to wear.

"Man I hate that about winter" Lucy mumbled crossing her arms.

"It's only November" Natsu said before asking "So you hungry?"

"Oh yeah I guess" Lucy said realizing that she was starting to feel a little hungry "So where are you taking us, not fast food I hope."

"Nope" Natsu replied "But it's a surprise."

Raising an eyebrow Lucy followed behind him as he lead her out of the observatory and then once again they were in Natsu's car headed who knows where. Well Natsu knew where they were going but that's beside the point. Lucy was honestly wondering what he'd pull off next, maybe he had gotten reservations to a nice restaurant or something. But she revaluated her expectations when the place Natsu stopped was in the parking lot to the park.

She was waiting for him to say something like "I'm lost" or "I don't have food planned at all" but instead he got out of the car. Lucy watched him as he walked to the back of the car to open the trunk. Suspicious, Lucy opened up the door and stepped outside. It was a little chilly but nothing she couldn't manage.

Going to the back of the car Lucy watched as Natsu took out of bag and a blanket from the trunk.

"Natsu" Lucy said while watching him with what she hoped was a straight face "What are we doing here?"

"What do you think we're here for?" Natsu asked as he closed the trunk and locked the car.

"I don't really know why were in the park at like seven at night, that's why I asked you" Lucy said while Natsu began to walk off.

"Were going to eat here duh" Natsu said looking behind him to look at her.

"Why exactly are we here to eat, are you that poor or-"Lucy began as she began to follow him before Natsu cut her off.

"We're eating here because it'll be fun" Natsu said while stopping to wait for her to catch up.

"Okay then" Lucy said reaching Natsu before he began to walk again "I just hope you planned for it to be like pitch black."

"Of course I thought ahead just wait until I find a spot" Natsu said smiling at her even though she was having a hard time seeing his face. Eventually Natsu found a spot he deemed as acceptable, he set down the bag and then unfolded the blanket before spreading it on the ground. "After you Luce" he said gesturing towards the blanket.

Laughing Lucy said "You dork" before sitting down on the blanket. While this was definitely unusual she decided she didn't really mind. It wasn't like Natsu to go by the book for dates. She watched as he pulled something from the bag that looked like stick before promptly bending them in half, an audible crack filling the silence.

"What the heck do you have-"Lucy began before promptly stopping once she saw a neon greenish light illuminate Natsu's face.

"I got glow sticks" Natsu said while waving them in his hands. He then took to the task of breaking them all.

"Was this your plan of lighting?" Lucy asked while a smile stretched across her face.

"You better believe it" Natsu said as he began to attach them together "Plus they do make some stylish accessories." He then placed a mixture of pink and green glow sticks on her head like a crown. "I crown you Queen Lucy" Natsu said with a laugh before placing a matching one on his own head.

"And might you be King Natsu?" Lucy said with a laugh.

"I suppose so" Natsu said before showing her the bracelets and necklaces he had made as well "Choose you other accessories m'lady."

"Can I choose any sir?" Lucy said following along with his game as she picked up a purple bracelet.

"Of course but make sure I have some as well" he said while putting on blue necklace. The two went back and forth before there was no longer any left, leaving them with multiple glowing bracelets and necklaces on them.

"So you ready for food now that you have plenty of light?" Natsu asked as he pulled the bag closer to him.

"I'm about as lit up as I Christmas tree, I'm sure I have plenty" Lucy responded while she watched him pulled out numerous baggies and containers.

"Okay then, I guess I'll tell you what's on the menu" Natsu said before he began to gesture towards the different items "These are some sandwiches I made, and this is some fruit I got from the store, and this"

Lucy eventually stopped listening at one point when she started laughing, she couldn't believe that Natsu had actually come up with such an idea. While it might have been a bit more convenient if it had been during the day. But then of course the lovely lighting choices of the glow sticks would've never happened.

"You ready to dig in?" Natsu asked looking up at her.

Laughing she replied "I guess I am" grabbing a sandwich she deciding that it was the perfect time to look at the stars that she had been unable to look at through the telescope. Finding all the constellations she began to feel nostalgic.

"Hey" Natsu said breaking her trance. Looking over at him she waited for him to continue "You're looking at the constellations right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah" Lucy said "This reminds me of the times my mom and I would stargaze. "

"Really" Natsu said before taking a bite of his sandwich "You mind showing them to me?" that request surprised Lucy.

"What?" she asked turning to him surprised searching his face for an answer.

"They're probably really important knowledge for you, I mean I know how much your mother meant to you" Natsu said watching Lucy for a reaction to see whether or not he should back off "I wanna be able to enjoy them with you so you don't have to do it alone."

Lucy began to feel a swelling feeling in her chest that she couldn't quiet put her finger on its meaning once Natsu said what he said. "Sure" Lucy said before she began to point them all out to him. "That's Lacerta right there" she said pointing it out and then outlining it with her finger "Oh and that one" she said pointing at it while continuing the same thing from before "Is Andromeda."

"Those are some weird names" Natsu mumbled as he watched her.

"Shut up they have meanings" Lucy said.

"What does Andromeda mean?" Natsu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It means Princess of Ethiopia or the Chained Lady" Lucy said with a huff.

"Wow you really know your stuff" Natsu said with an exasperated expression.

"Well I was really passionate about it when I was younger. I did my best to learn every single one and there meanings" Lucy said a small smile gracing her face as she remembered her times with her mother.

"Man when I was younger I only wondered what would happen if I set an object on fire" Natsu said absentmindedly while looking at the sky.

"Wow Natsu really?" Luc said with a humored look on her face.

"Yep I set a lot of things on fire before my dad took away literally every fire starting device in the house" Natsu said with a laugh.

"What did you manage to set on fire before that though?" Lucy asked interested in what the heck a ten year old pyromaniac would do.

"Oh lots of stuff" Natsu said before going off telling her about everything he had set on fire as a kid. Once he had finished she began to show him all the constellations she could find. Natsu would cut in every once in a while with a random comment.

"That's all I can see" Lucy said before propping herself up with her elbows "So you have any questions?"

"Yeah only one" Natsu said.

"What is it?" Lucy asked curiously looking over at him.

"Can we, you know, get together officially?" Natsu said while rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Wait are you asking me-"Lucy began before Natsu cut her off.

"Yeah I'm asking you if you want to go out, as in becoming a couple" Natsu said while looking her in the eyes. This time he wouldn't avoid her face while asking her. He would see her reaction first hand.

"Geez you idot" Lucy began throwing Natsu off for a second "Of course, that was the plan was it not?"

"I guess it was the plan" Natsu said with a smile before leaning her and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Shaking her head she said "Man we finally get together and all you do is give me a kiss on the cheek?"

"What?" Natsu said quickly before Lucy leaned over and kissed him on the lips. It was quick and Natsu barely had enough time to react before she pulled away.

Smiling at him she said "You know I think this was definitely one of best dates I've been on."

"Woo hoo, I win" Natsu said weakly with a smile on his face.

* * *

A/N: Today I learned that I cannot describe a light show but I was able to get this chapter out on time thankfully since I'm starting school once again tomorrow. Also there is going to be about 15-ish more chapters left. The chapters won't really have a nice timeline, what I mean by that is one chapter might be a few days apart but some might be weeks apart. I would also like to thank everyone who has stuck around for so long and for every review. Its going to be coming to an end soon, but not yet.


	35. Sore Loser

Lucy and Natsu had been officially dating for two weeks, during this time she had been asked numerous times "how is it?" almost as if they were asking someone how their new job was or something. To be honest it wasn't not like that much had changed, sure there was more hugs and make out sessions (she definitely wasn't going to complain about these changes) but other than that it's not like it disrupted their lives in any major way. Fridays had just changed from movie night to date night, they still spent Saturdays grading papers and just being lazy together. If anything Natsu just spent more time in her apartment.

Speaking of Saturdays and Natsu, right now Natsu and Lucy where participating in a new ritual they had started a few weeks ago after they finished grading papers (mainly Lucy's) which was playing, well more like competing, in Mario Kart. Now Lucy didn't really know how Natsu's beat up Wii even showed up in her apartment. But there it was one day without any explanation from Natsu.

Through this Lucy had learned that there was nothing more frustrating than this game, she was sure it had to have ruined friendships. The first few games Natsu always won but after a few rounds Lucy won a race and learned the taste of victory. She had actually become pretty good at the game after playing it for like five hours straight.

Currently the two were racing on everyone's favorite course, Rainbow Road and for the first time Lucy was in first place. Even though she was putting all her concentration into making it through the last lap without falling into the oblivion, she couldn't help but say to Natsu "I'm going to win for sure! Remember what the loser has to do!"

"Yeah, yeah" Natsu said without taking his gaze away from the screen "But I thought you said that if I on it be a different penalty because I'm not allowed to use your oven."

"That's true" Lucy said glancing at Natsu from the corner of her eye for a split second.

"Unfortunately for you Lucy" Natsu began as laughter began to escape his lips "I don't think you're going to be in first for much longer."

"What do you have you little shit?!" Lucy exclaimed taking her eyes away from her half of the screen to look over at Natsu's side. Seeing what he had in the corner of his screen she paled "No" she said turning her attention back to her side "You wouldn't dare!"

"I bet victory tasted sweet" Natsu said as he hit the button on his controller "Unfortunately I think I would look better in that place than you."

Lucy let out a shriek as that damn life ruining blue shell came and fell right on top of her. "Come one, come on" she muttered as she kept pushing on the button to keep going when Natsu's car whizzed by. Letting out a sound of anguish when she could finally move she crossed the finish line in fifth place.

"Wooo hooo" Natsu yelled as he threw his controller in the air before jumping up and doing a victory dance. Lucy sat, anger radiating from every pore of her body. She glared at the screen while she watched the score board come up with Natsu in first and her in third.

"I can't believe this" Lucy exclaimed in anger, successfully stopping Natsu and his dancing.

"What that I won?" Natsu asked with a gloating look on his face before plopping down next to her on the couch "Come on Lucy, did you forget who the master of Rainbow Road was?"

"But you fell off like five times!" Lucy yelled in exasperation before throwing the controller next to her on the couch.

"I know but just remember" Natsu said before pointing at himself "Master at Rainbow Road."

"Ugh I hate you!" Lucy yelled before falling back into the couch.

"Aww come on Lucy you don't mean that" Natsu while watching his girlfriend roll her eyes "Besides you always tell me to not act like a sore loser." All he got in response was some angry grumbling. "Also I hope you don't forget what the winner gets" he said as a smile spread across his face.

"I hate when you win" Lucy mumbled as she looked at Natsu. It was quiet for a few seconds before Lucy said "You're sleeping on the couch tonight."

"What?" Natsu questioned as he looked Lucy in the eyes to see if her eyes were joking because her face said she was serious. But her eyes matched up with her face. "You can't do that!"

"Yes I can" Lucy said with a huff before crossing her arms.

"I don't even live with you Lucy! You can't just tell me to sleep on the couch. I'll just go home and sleep in my own bed" Natsu said looking at her in exasperation that she thought she could make him sleep on her couch just because he beat her at Mario Kart. He was starting to think that it had been a bad idea of introducing it to her.

"Well you practically live her on the weekends" Lucy said "Even during the week you sleep over sometimes!"

Natsu decided it was maybe time to start doing some sort of damage control. Angry Lucy could be a scary Lucy and well he honestly didn't feel like sleeping on her couch. "Well that's only because my favorite person is here!"

"What Happy, or is it free food?" Lucy asked sarcastically.

"Noooo" Natsu said as he slid closer to her "I said person. So that means it's you!" Natsu said before wrapping his arms around her waist before pulling her over to him.

She let out a squawk before she let out an annoyed "Natsuuuuuuuuuu!"

Laughing as he nuzzled her neck he hoped some affection might lighten her mood. However when her response was another annoyed "Natsu" he decided it was time to switch over to dire measures, operation tickle Lucy until she kicks you in the face was about to go underway.

As he was taking his hands away from her waist, Lucy thought that maybe he had given up trying to change her mood when she noticed the playful glimmer in his eyes. "Natsu?" she asked cautiously, trying to not change her expression "What are you about to do?"

Choosing not to respond, he instead shot his hands towards her side giving Lucy only a second to react to what he was about to do. Then he began tickling her sides. Lucy tried, she really tried to not laugh but after three years of friendship Natsu knew exactly where she was the most ticklish. She soon burst out laughing as she tried her best to escape from Natsu's grip all while trying to tell him to stop even though it sounded more like she was choking due to her laughter.

But it wasn't too long before Lucy did exactly what he had predicted, she kicked him. Not in the face though, she kicked him in the stomach. When it happened he felt all his breath leave him while he was sent backwards onto the arm rest of the couch.

Natsu sat up and saw Lucy had turned into a ball of laughter. She was curled up and was trying to stop laughing. After a few seconds she was only wheezing and was starting to sit up, and once she had completely recovered she looked over at Natsu.

"You feeling less murderous?" Natsu asked as he rubbed the back of his neck while giving her a sheepish smile.

Taking a deep breath Lucy replied "Yes, but that kick made me feel a lot better."

"You sure my tickle attack didn't have any effect on you?" Natsu asked.

"Maybe, just maybe" Lucy said before she stood up. Turning back around to Natsu she asked "So do you want your prize or not?"

"Yessss!" Natsu yelled as he jumped up.

Sighing Lucy began her way to the kitchen while Natsu trailed behind. Happy came out from his hiding place that he always went to when the two played, once Natsu noticed him he bent down to his level and began scratching him behind the ear. "Hey buddy" Natsu said as he earned a purr from Happy. Happy was now practically white except for the tip of his tail and his ears.

Lucy began to search through the kitchen for the ingredients to make Natsu's prize while the later showered attention over Happy. Well technically the prize was that the loser had to make dinner so it wasn't that bad. Unfortunately she couldn't find anything that she could really cook a meal with. Lucy hadn't been to the store for two weeks, plus Natsu and her had been living off take-out for the past few days. Sighing as she muttered to herself, Lucy went over to the sticky notes that sat on her counter and began to scribble food and such that they needed.

Looking over at Natsu she was considering taking him along to even though he'd probably slip in some type of cookies into the cart when she wasn't looking. Her internal debate was broken when she heard her phone go off catching both her's and Natsu's attention.

Pulling it out from her pocket she glanced at the caller id before letting out a groan, it was Levy. It wasn't that she didn't love her friend, it was just that since Natsu and her had gotten together the girl called once a day. Looking over at Natsu she held the list out to him and said "Go buy this stuff from the store, ok?"

"Okay" Natsu said as he stood back up and walked over.

"Only the stuff on the list!" Lucy said looking him in the eye before answering the phone.

"Of course" Natsu said as he took the list and headed out.

"Hey Levy" Lucy said trying to sound chipper "What do I owe the pleasure?"

"Oh I just thought I'd call and check up on you" Levy responded.

"Don't you have a date with Gajeel tonight?" Lucy said hoping to change topics so the phone call could be over as soon as possible.

"Yes but I still have an hour" Levy replied as though she had saw through Lucy's attempt to shorten the conversation.

"Oh how lovely" Lucy replied.

"So" Levy began "How's it going with Natsu?"

"It's doing great. I just made him leave though so if you want to talk to him you'll have to wait until he gets back."

"Oh really? Well that's nice, but you see the real reason behind this call was due to a request from Cana." Those words instantly made Lucy freeze, it looked like this call was about to take a turn for the worst.

"What does Cana want to know?" Lucy asked hesitantly.

"Well to quote her she wants to know if you two have banged yet and if you say no she won't believe you considering what it had been like before you two got together."

"Well doesn't Cana have a lot to say about my sex life" Lucy grumbled "Well unfortunately my answer is no."

"What!?" Levy shrieked from over the phone.

"Oh I can see you're surprised as well" Lucy said while rolling her eyes. Why'd her friends have to be so nosey?

"Is this related to the same reason why you had to go on date before you got together?" Lucy could practically here the sarcasm in Levy's voice from over the phone.

"No it's just that it hasn't happened yet" Lucy said "I don't see why we need to rush it. It'll happen when it happens."

"Man Lu does that mean you'll like wait until your wedding night or whatever?"

"Wait a second where would you even get that idea!" Lucy exclaimed "Besides I don't think it would take us that long. It's not like hands haven't wandered."

The only response she got from Levy's side was giggles. Sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose Lucy said "Levy please act mature. I know my last statement couldn't have affected you too much."

"No, no it's not that" Levy said "It's just you didn't say anything about the whole wedding thing."

Lucy was confused for a few seconds before it finally clicked in her brain what had sent her friend into hysterics "Levy it's not funny at all, I didn't imply anything with my response to your statement."

"Yeah, yeah sorry" Levy responded before she was quiet for a few seconds "Okay than Lu, take your sweet time. But I better be the first person to know about it."

"Fine" Lucy said while shaking her head.

"And I want all the details" Levy quickly said.

"What!?" Lucy squawked "Why would I tell you anything other than it happened!?"

"I told you about my first time with Gajeel!"

"I didn't ask nor did I want to know about it!" Lucy yelled back.

"Fine" Levy said before letting out an audible huff "But you better tell me about it when it happens."

"Yes, yes" Lucy said before she heard a muffled voice from Levy's side.

"Sorry Lu gotta go" Levy said.

"Talk to you later" Lucy responded before Levy hung up. Sighing as she slipped her phone into her pocket she walked over to where Happy had curled up on the counter. Scratching his ear she decided that Happy deserved some attention since he had been getting less since his owners had gotten together.

Somehow Natsu had managed to get back at a decent time instead of taking hours to get back. But that might have been due to the promise of food. Once Natsu had arrived he sat the bags on the counter and sat himself on the counter next to them while he waited for Lucy to begin.

"Please don't sit on the counter" Lucy said as she put the macaroni in the microwave. It looked like their dinner was going to be far from romantic. But macaroni and fish sticks could be romantic if they tried right? Well it was food to say the least.

"Man your kitchen has so many rules" Natsu said as he hopped down from the counter.

"Well most of them there's a good reason behind it" Lucy responded as she punched the time into the microwave. Now all there was to do was wait for the food and thankfully all she needed for Natsu was paper plates.

Opening the cabinet she began to rummage through it for some plates before she heard Natsu exclaim "Surprise hug attack" turning around she saw Natsu fast approaching her before he swooped her up into a hug. "Natsu" she exclaimed as she tried to act angry but all she could do was laugh as Natsu hugged her, her feet a few inches above the floor.

Wrapping her arms around his neck she laughed as she rested her forehead against his. Natsu soon sat her back on the ground but didn't take his arms away from her waist. Lucy decided to take it that Natsu wasn't exactly done with his affection, so she decided to take the first step.

Leaning up Lucy pressed her lips onto Natsu's. It took him a few seconds before he responded but when he did he pulled her against him tighter and moved his lips against hers. As Lucy tried to turn her head their noises bumped together which caused Natsu to laugh for some reason. But it gave Lucy the perfect opportunity to take his bottom between hers. She sucked on it gently before giving it a slight nip.

She relished in the noise he made but Natsu decided to retaliate. Pulling his lips away from hers with a smirk, almost laughing at the pout that appeared on her face he moved his lips down her neck. Pressing a soft kiss to her collarbone she heard Lucy suck in her breath. Smiling into her neck he peppered her neck with kisses as he worked his way up, ending with a kiss on her earlobe.

Lucy moved her hands away from the spot around Natsu's neck where they had been residing to the side if his face. Pulling his face up to her's she crashed their lips together in a sloppy kiss. Their teeth clicked and their noses squished together. Lucy heard Natsu laugh while he mumbled something about her being eager before she felt his tongue slid along the bottom of her lip.

She began to fell heat in her abdomen but chose to ignore it as she granted Natsu's tongue entrance into her mouth. Natsu's hands began to move down her back before the came to rest on Lucy's backside. Lucy was beginning to explore Natsu's mouth when she felt him squeeze her butt. She made a noise of surprise but did her best not to bite down on her tongue (and Natsu's too probably).

Without taking his lips away from her's Natsu began to lift Lucy up to set her on the counter but he had forgotten about one thing, the cabinet was still open. So when Lucy's head hit the door she pulled away and let out a groan in pain.

"Shit" Natsu exclaimed breaking the kiss, setting her on the counter he said "You okay Lucy?"

Nodding her head as she closed the cabinet she replied "Yeah I'm fine" before meeting her lips against her's again. Lucy's hand wounded themselves into Natsu's pink locks as she pressed her lips against his feverishly. This time Natsu's hands were moving upwards instead of down. He brought them up slowly as he felt Lucy's curves while he scrapped his canines against Lucy's bottom lip. She gasped into his mouth as he began to tug on her lip.

The heat in her abdomen was hotter but she wasn't worrying about it all. Tugging on Natsu's locks she earned herself a growl from Natsu before he began to outline her lip with his tongue again. But, unfortunately, before they could get any further Lucy heard the microwave go off.

Groaning she pulled away from Natsu. "Can't we just ignore it" Natsu muttered before pressing a kiss onto her neck. Lucy really did want to just ignore it, and she was about to but then the oven went off to accompany the microwave.

Sighing, Lucy tapped Natsu on the shoulder and said "I think that's our sign to stop, unless of course you want out dinner to burn."

"I guess" Natsu said before he helped Lucy down from the counter and took over the job of finding paper plates. Damn it, why'd he have to love food so much. If he didn't he might've still been making out with Lucy. Well that was probably a lie since Lucy would've told him that she was not going to eat burnt food. But still, he could still dream.

* * *

A/N: To the people who said drama would be coming, I'm sorry but pretty much everything from here on out will be fluff and the occasional bicker. Sorry if you expected more.


	36. Field Trip

Lucy will never understand the annual Fairy High school-wide trip to the nearby beach. It's not like she didn't like the beach, oh no she would come to the beach at least five times over the summer. But the key word there was summer, not winter because you see the trip always for some odd reason happened on the last Friday of November.

Whoever decided this was a good time of year to go to the beach with close to five hundred kids was obviously off their rocker. But according to Principal Makarov it was the ideal time to take a large number of students and there was also something like they went on the day of the town founder's birthday or something.

Sighing Lucy tugged down her sunglasses over her eyes with a huff before following the herd of kids she had to control. Unfortunately for this trip, teachers couldn't pair up so she couldn't even attempt to enjoy the beach time with Natsu. She had even dug around her closet for her nice bikini too! But it's not like anyone would see it considering how cold it was, she was planning on keeping her clothes on. Somehow though Natsu was walking around somewhere with only a swimsuit and a tee on, how he did it she'd never know.

The group of kids that she was supposed to chaperone seemed like they hadn't really wanted to come, but who'd pass up a day out of school? Lucy had guessed by now that most of the kids had come probably because their friends had convinced them to come but didn't realize they'd be put into groups. The rest were either in the categories of 'I don't care it's a free day away from school', 'no way was I staying behind with Vice Principal Dreyar' and the rare 'I'm actually excited to be here.' There was only one person in that category and that student was Cindy Laurence

"So" Cindy said turning around to face the group "What do you all want to do?" All she got in response was a few coughs and a single replay of "I don't even want to be here!"

Cindy retaliated to this statement by placing her hands on her hips and snidely replying "Well then you shouldn't have come. We have to stick together as a group so we're stuck with each other. So we'd better make the best of it." Lucy by then had decided that Cindy could handle the group on her own and that she really didn't need to put in any input, unless the other students didn't replay to her.

There were a few grumbles following Cindy's statement but in the end they got a unanimous vote on going to the beach. Once they arrived at the beach though it seemed like they had only responded to Cindy so she would shut up. Most of the students just stood around while a few shuffled down to the water's edge or just sat down in the sand. Cindy seemed preoccupied with building what Lucy guessed was going to be a sand castle.

Since it looked like she had all her students under control she decided that she wasn't going to let the fact that half of them didn't seem to know how to have fun get in the way of her trying to enjoy this day. Slipping her bag off Lucy pulled out the towel she had brought and laid it out on the sand. Then after she had found a semi-comfortable position she pulled out a novel she had been trying to start and began reading.

It was then pretty quiet for a good hour before Cindy somehow convinced the others to play a volleyball game (where she got the volleyball Lucy would never know) and the peace and quiet was replaced with loud teens who didn't seem to realize that she could hear all their curse words. But it's not like Lucy wasn't used to loud noises and distractions while reading, reading around Natsu had been enough practice for her.

So life carried on and Lucy figured that they would tell her if they wanted to go get food at the boardwalk. But after two more hours of reading she was getting to get hungry herself, taking out her phone to look at the time she was somewhat shocked to see that it was noon and they were still down at the beach. She was considering saying something to the kids when Cindy appeared out of nowhere and plopped down next to her with a huff.

"Hey Cindy, you think they're going to be done with the game soon?" Lucy asked in hopes that they could leave the beach and head up for food soon.

Cindy's reply was a shrug of her shoulders and an "I guess", which was an unusual response for her normal chatterbox ways.

"Everything okay?" Lucy asked though she hoped she wouldn't have to play Erza's job on this trip.

"Yeah I guess" Cindy said before shifting her position so her hands were behind her "It's just hard to enjoy myself when I got stuck in a group full of idiots and people I don't particularly like."

"Wow those are words I'd never expect out of your mouth" Lucy said in shock, Cindy was well known among both teachers and peers alike as friendly and easy to get along with. There was almost no student in the school that wouldn't say they didn't consider her as a friend.

"Well I mean I have to get along with pretty much everyone since I'm the president of student council. Can't really have people hating me if I plan to run again next year" Cindy said with a sigh "I just wished I had ended up in Coach Dragneel's group, no offense though Ms. Heartfilia, most of my friends are in his group."

"No, no I understand" Lucy said with a smile "I'd much prefer spending this day with friends instead of with students I don't particularly like though, no offense though."

Cindy began laughing after hearing the last part of Lucy's statement before saying "Yeah I guess that's true for students and teachers alike" Cindy finished. It was quiet between the two for a few seconds before Cindy broke the silence with the question of "Can I ask you a semi-personal question Ms. Heartfilia?"

"Huh" Lucy said taken back "That depends on what it's about I guess."

"Well I mean it's kinda something my friends and I have been wondering about for a while now. I don't really want to call it a bet but that's kinda what it's become" Cindy said before pausing for a second "The question is whether or not you and Coach Dragneel are dating."

"What?" Lucy asked surprised, she had expected that by now the entire student body had known by now since they weren't exactly being that secretive of it. It was true that they were allowed to date even though they were co-workers but they pretty much were on the same rules of student which was simply no PDA allowed ever during school hours.

"You don't have to answer it if you don't want to!" Cindy said quickly while waving her hands in front of her in panic.

"No, no it's fine. I'm just…..surprised that you don't know the answer. But to answer your question its yes" Lucy said simply waiting to see what the reaction would be.

"Well than, cool. That means I was totally right, I can't want to rub it in their faces" Cindy said with a nod as though she was assuring herself of what she would do.

Lucy let out a snort before saying "That's the most interesting response I've gotten yet."

"Is that so?" Cindy said before making a noise that sounded like a hum of sorts. Lucy was about to respond when she heard a yell from the group playing volleyball that sounded something like "Damn I'm fucking hungry!" Making a face Lucy turned around to see that the others students seemed to be done with the game and were heading over to where she was sitting.

"Hey Ms. Heartfilia" said the student who was leading the group, she was pretty sure his name was Eve Tearm or something like that "We were wondering if we could go up to the boardwalk?"

"Oh sure" Lucy said sitting up a bit more while putting her book into the bag "Just give me a few seconds to pack up" and after Lucy had shoved her towel into her bag did they began to walk back up to the boardwalk. She felt a buzz in her bag and slipped it down to her elbow so she could dig around for her phone; once she had pulled it out did she see who it was.

_From Natsu: My groups up at the boardwalk if you wanna meet up or somethin'_

Smiling Lucy replied back _Already heading up there, where are you?_

While waiting for Natsu's response she noticed Cindy slowing inching her way towards her. Raising an eyebrow at the behavior she looked a little bit behind the heads of the other students to see that student from before, Eve, was following all while talking to her. About what Lucy wasn't sure but whatever it was, Cindy was obviously uncomfortable with it.

Lucy was about to say something when her phone went off again looking down she saw that the place Natsu was at was right up ahead of them. She texted back a quick response and once she looked back up Cindy was walking beside her and Eve was nowhere to be seen. Shrugging her shoulders Lucy figured that Cindy had taken care of it herself.

When they arrived at the boardwalk Lucy found Natsu and his group almost immediately. True all she had to look for was pink hair but even without it she would've found him just as fast, it was just as easy to find the pouting man who was surrounded by hyper active teenagers. It looked like Natsu had gotten the group where everyone was actually excited to be on the trip. Once Natsu noticed her he waved and she waved back before she turned around to her group.

"Okay then here's the deal, you can go wherever you want on the boardwalk but at one thirty we'll meet back up at the arcade, okay?" Lucy asked hoping that she could get rid of a few of them.

"Which one?" some kid yelled from the back to which Lucy replied with a swift point to the closest one near them. There was then a large chorus of okay before almost her entire group left her. Only Cindy and one other kid remained with her as she walked over to Natsu's group.

The hello she got from Natsu was "Thank you for coming, I thought I was about to explode."

"Natsu you're a teacher" Lucy said while placing her hands on his shoulders and staring him straight in the eye "You watch kids for a living."

"I know" Natsu whined "But I got _him _in my group."

"Oh my mavis Natsu, really?" Lucy asked before she noticed that he was right and Will was in his group. But at the moment he was preoccupied with whatever Cindy was telling him.

"They were crazy!" Natsu said throwing his hands up in the air "The lifeguard literally kicked us out of the water and then out of the beach. So were stuck here for the next two hours!"

"Oh poor baby" Lucy said with a roll of her eyes while patting his shoulder "Is that the only reason you requested my presence?"

"Well I mean I also hoped for a bathing suit but I guess it is a little chilly" Natsu said with a shrug before Lucy punched him in the arm. "Okay, okay" he said while rubbing the offending area "I deserved that."

"Yes you did" Lucy said with a nod before asking "But you know how you can make it up?"

"Let me guess stand in the ten minute line for fries?" Natsu said while rolling his eyes even though his smile gave away that he joking.

"Yep!" Lucy exclaimed before grabbing his arm "You know you'd get them even if I didn't ask you."

"Well yeah because they are some damn good fries" Natsu said before looking over at the growing line with a grimace on his face "You'll watch the kid's right?"

"Yeah of course" Lucy said before she watched him head off to the fry line. She gave him a wave before she turned her attention to the kids. Half of them were eyeing the ice cream place and the others seemed to just be sitting around waiting for something to happen.

"If any of you guys want food now would be the time to get it" Lucy said right as half of them made a beeline for the random junk food places around. She counted ten running towards the ice cream place and four already at the caramel corn stall. The only two left were Cindy and Will who were debating whether or not to get fries or pizza.

Apparently they decided pizza because three minutes later they were standing in the long line for the single pizza stall on the entire boardwalk. Sighing Lucy sat down and watched Natsu as he slowly moved forward in the line while occasionally checking on the kids that were slowly trickling back over to the benches that Lucy had claimed. Heck Will and Cindy got back before he did. But he did come back eventually and the most important thing was that he came back with fries.

"Are you happy now?" Natsu asked as he sat down beside her with the bucket of fries.

"Did you put vinegar on them?" Lucy asked.

"Yes."

"Then yes, I am" Lucy said before grabbing a handful of fries.

"Sure just go right on ahead and start eating the fries that I stood in line forever to eat" Natsu dramatically while watching Lucy from the corner of his eye.

"I know how tragic" she responded while she waited for him to grab his handful of fries and then promptly shoving them into his mouth. "And that demonstration is why I grab a handful of fries before you" Lucy said before she threw a few more fries from her handful into her mouth.

"Hey you snooze you lose" Natsu said before shoving more fries in his mouth.

"Do you remember that time when we went to the beach last summer with the others" Lucy said as continued munching on her fries.

"Which time-wait are you talking about when Gray found out we put vinegar on our fires?" Natsu asked with a tinge of laughter hiding in his voice as though he was trying not to laugh.

"Yeah I can still see his shocked and disgusted face" Lucy said as Natsu shoved more fries in his mouth "It's like he had found out that we had killed our first born child or something." Natsu than promptly choked on his fries while Lucy began laughing.

In between coughs Natsu managed to spit out "He called us monsters and said we'd go to hell!"

"Ahh that will always be a great memory" Lucy said wiping a tear away from her eye before grabbing more fries.

"Hey Lucy, Lucy, Lucy!"

"What Natsu?" Lucy said turning to him to see him balancing a fry on his nose. She stared at him for a few seconds before replaying "Natsu please, we're in public."

"So?" Natsu said trying to not move his face as to keep the fry on.

"You're a bad influence to the kids" Lucy said while eating her fries.

"Everything's a bad influence" Natsu said simply with a shrug right before the fry toppled off his face and onto the ground.

"See" Lucy said pointing at the offending fry that was soon attacked by seagulls "Now you are going to have one less fry, how do you feel?"

"Terrible" Natsu said hanging his head in mock shame "But that doesn't stop me from eating them!" he exclaimed before grabbing another handful.

"Of course it doesn't" Lucy said with a sigh.

"Hey Luce, you wanna do me a favor?" Natsu asked.

"And what would that be?" Lucy asked as she ate another fry.

Picking up a fry and holding it out to her he said "Throw this fry in my mouth."

"Natsu, no" Lucy said "It won't land in your mouth."

"You don't know that, come on try it! It's not like it's a fry you're not going to eat."

"True" Lucy said, contemplating the matter for a few seconds before taking the fry out of her hand and began to aim it towards his mouth,

"Aww yeah this is going to be so awesome" Natsu said before opening his mouth.

"I just want you to know you look like a gigantic baby bird" Lucy said before she threw the fry at him. Natsu made a noise that sounded like what just as the fry hit his forehead and then slid down his face to the ground.

"Damn" Natsu muttered as he watched the seagulls attack the fry "I thought maybe it would've worked."

"Oh well" Lucy said with a shrug before leaning over and kissing his cheek "At least it hit your cheek."

"True" Natsu said with a nod before gesturing to the fry bucket "But now unfortunately all are fries are gone, whatever shall we do now?"

"I don't know" Lucy said with a shrug "Ask the kids what they want to do; we still have like an hour before we have to get ready to leave."

"Hey, what do you guys wanna do before we leave?" Natsu asked turning around to face the group. He got a few blank stares before he got a response, all of which said they should go to the arcade.

"Well Natsu" Lucy said while standing up "It looks like the people have spoken."

"Yeah, yeah" Natsu said while throwing the greasy bucket away "I heard." Standing up he followed Lucy and the herd of kids to the arcade. Lucy gagged at the smell of stale popcorn and burning plastic. She had forgotten how much she had hated the arcade from the last time Natsu had dragged her in to play air hokey for two hours.

"So Lucy" Natsu said while sliding up next to Lucy, the kids had pretty much all run off to who knows where leaving the two of them alone or however alone you could be in a crowded arcade "You ready for some air hokey."

A smiling crossing her face Lucy said "Bring it on!" and bring it on she did. Lucy ended up being the champion of the ten consecutive games of air hokey.

"Well" Natsu said as he watched Lucy dance around all while loudly declaring how she won "It looks like we know who's better at air hokey, but I'm still the best at Mario Kart."

"I will win that title from you so I can be the ultimate player!" Lucy loudly exclaimed before checking her watch. She may be celebrating her win rather immaturely but that still didn't mean she was going to slack off on her job. "Damn" Lucy said cursing under her breath before turning to Natsu "Looks like we better find the kids and head out."

"Aw man is it time to leave already?" Natsu said with a whine "I was hoping for a rematch."

"We can settle this once we get back to my apartment" Lucy said "But right now we need to find the kids and roll out of here before we get left behind."

"Got it" Natsu said before he disappeared into the depths of the arcade. Five minutes later the two both emerged from the arcade with all their assigned students, most of Lucy's had come to the arcade to wait but went inside when they hadn't seen her standing around.

"Okay then is everyone here, look around to see if we're missing anyone" Lucy said while clasping her hands together and glancing at her watch. They were cutting it close; they were supposed to be meeting at the buses in five minutes. After hearing the reply of no she quickly herded them towards the bus and they ended up getting there only a few minutes behind the time. But it wasn't like they were the only ones that were late, Gajeel's group showed up ten seconds after them.

Mirajane made a comment about how both Natsu and Lucy's groups had ended up together which Lucy choose to ignore for the moment. As everyone loaded onto their respective buses Lucy plopped herself down in a seat in the front and soon was joined by Natsu.

"Man" Lucy said with a sigh before resting her head on Natsu's shoulder "I'm wiped out."

"So were not going to do that rematch when we get back to your place?" Natsu asked with a smile.

"No we are going to have a rematch" Lucy said while looking up at him "I'm going to become the ultimate winner."

"Sure you are" Natsu said with a laugh "But you know I think I know what the loser should have to do."

"Hmm" Lucy asked while turning her face away from him and readjusting her head on his shoulder.

"The loser should have to show off to the other in their bathing suit."

"Did you want to see me in a swim suit that bad?"

"Yes?"

"Fine but you better be ready to take off that stupid t-shirt. I expect to see those muscles."

* * *

A/N: Where was I going with that Cindy side story thing, I don't really know? Just a warning that next weeks chapter might be up late.


	37. Swim Suits (M)

Now in hindsight to settle the whole air hockey thing, Natsu and Lucy should have decided to pick a nice and simple board game. But they of course went along with their original plan of deciding with a few rounds of Mario Kart. So unfortunately the two were still sitting on Lucy's couch on who knows what round of Mario Kart (well they did know what round it was, it was round 37 at the moment) and it was just a few minutes pass eleven. The worst part of it was they were tied eighteen to eighteen with neither looking to give up and lose. Whether it was pure stubbornness or if both wanted to see the other in their swimsuit, neither looked ready to lose.

"Please just lose already!" Lucy exclaimed as she pressed down harder on the button of the controller as if it would make her go faster.

"No way Lucy" Natsu said while letting out a whoop as he passed her. Over Lucy's loud cursing Natsu said "I'm going to win this and then the next one, no way am I going to lose."

Lucy groaned in agony as she watched Natsu cross the finish line in first with her close behind. But it was not too late to beat him, there was still two more races left in this round. Pausing to check her phone, Lucy about fell out of her seat when she saw the time. "Oh my god Natsu, do you know what time it is!?"

"Umm" Natsu said as he scrolled through the different race tracks "No?"

"It's past eleven" Lucy said as she shoved the phone in Natsu's face "We've been playing for hours! Thank mavis it's a weekend or else you'd have to go home!"

"So we're not going to settle this?" Natsu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course not, if anything we can end in a tie and save this match for a later date" Lucy said with a sigh before running her fingers through her hair "I'm surprised I'm still awake."

"But what about the bathing suits?" Natsu asked acting almost distraught.

"Really that's what you're worried about?" Lucy asked confused.

"Well I mean we've sat here in them since we've started so we might as well show them off" Natsu said with a shrug "So technically we both lose so we both pay the consequence. I'll take off my shirt first if that'll make you feel better" Natsu said not even waiting for her replay before he began stripping off his shirt.

"Oh my god Natsu, really are you th…" Lucy said before trailing off. At least now she had the perk to stare at Natsu's abs without any shame because honestly Lucy was pretty sure Natsu's abs looked better than most male models. But she also thought he looked better than most male models so she might be a little biased on the issue.

"So are you going to be the only one that gets to enjoy a view or do I get a turn to?" Natsu said with a smirk while watching in amusement as Lucy's face turned bright red.

"Oh shut up" Lucy said while standing up and turning her back to him before pulling off the dress she had been wearing. Turning back around to face Natsu she avoided his eyes for a few seconds before she noticed him standing up and heading over to her. Moving her eyes back to Natsu's face she was greeted by his usual smile as she felt his arms encircle her waist.

"I don't see why you're so embarrassed" Natsu said with a chuckle before kissing her cheek "You're absolutely gorgeous."

"It's not that" Lucy said as her cheeks heated up even more "It's just kinda, I don't know how to explain it….weird I guess. I mean don't you feel any embarrassment about the fact that we're showing off our bathing suits to each other?"

"Nope" Natsu said with a laugh "Not in the slightest" then, as if to add emphasis to his statement, he gave her butt a squeeze.

"Natsu!" Lucy shrieked before Natsu covered her lips with his in a quick kiss.

Once they pulled away Natsu said with a laugh "See, its nots weird."

"Uh huh?" Lucy said before retaliating by giving Natsu's butt a squeeze in return. His reply was a cross between a gurgle and a choke due to his laughter.

"Man Lucy" Natsu said once he had regained himself "You sure know how to get back at someone."

Rolling her eyes Lucy replied with "Sure" before raising her head up enough to place her lips onto Natsu's. She heard him hum against her lips as he tightened his grip around her waist. The kiss quickly deepened as Natsu slanted his lips over hers causing Lucy to groan. Moving her hands to Natsu's neck Lucy pulled him down closer to her, digging her nails into his neck.

They pulled away for a few seconds when they needed air but quickly crashed their lips together again in a sloppy kiss. Their lips seemed to move together as the two of them hungrily kissed. Lucy was the first to start heating it up when she nipped at Natsu's bottom lip, eliciting a growl from him. One of Lucy's hands began to travel from his neck to his hair as she began to run her fingers through it.

Natsu than pulled away and without any warning placed his lips against her collarbone in a wet kiss. Lucy let out a hiss as Natsu began to move his lips up her neck before ending at her earlobe with a quick nip. Neither where sure how far the other was ready to go, but they were going to continue until the other said something.

Lucy took her hands away from their previous places to Natsu's jawline and once they were on both sides she pulled his face back to hers and closed the space between them once again. Natsu's hands began to wonder further down her back as Lucy trailed the outline of Natsu's bottom lip with her tongue. Just as he opened his mouth enough for her to slip her tongue inside, Natsu seemed to decided that it was then the best opportunity to start fondling her ass.

Letting out a squeak, Lucy almost withdrew her tongue from Natsu's mouth; she couldn't help but think how he always chooses the wrong time to squeeze her ass. Lucy began to explore Natsu's mouth, earning low growls from the man while he became acquainted with her ass.

When they pulled away once again Lucy said between breaths "You're…getting real….friendly…with my ass."

""Yeah" Natsu panted back "But I mean…it's the easiest thing to get friendly with while standing up."

"Oh?"

"Yeah" Natsu said "So if you don't mind can we change positions?" Natsu than promptly pulled her back towards the couch before flopping down on it backwards, and taking her with him. Lucy let out a shriek before they fell soundly onto the couch. It was only a few seconds later though that she was flipped onto her back and Natsu was over top of her. She raised an eyebrow at him questionably but all questions vanished from her head when he slammed his lips against hers once again.

Lucy took this opportunity to let her hands wander over Natsu's chest, making sure that she learned every inch of it by the end of the night. Maybe this stupid 'let's model our bathing suit clad bodies off to each other' would turn out to have been one of Natsu's good ideas. Lucy found herself self-consciously wrapping her legs around Natsu's waist, if he had anything to say about it or if he even knew he didn't say.

Lucy took this as an opportunity to take this make out session to the next level. Raising her hips up she connected them with Natsu's and began to grind against him, the tightness in her abdomen she had felt days prior returning in full force once their hips connected. Natsu let out a loud moan as Lucy began to move her hips against his and he soon returned by mimicking her movements with his hips, causing the friction to increase, as well as the feeling of himself getting hard started.

Once Natsu reconnected his lips onto Lucy's his hands began to find a place to go to. One was tangled in Lucy's hair and the other was just, well, there and it was currently moving up Lucy's body. Lucy's hands were still roaming over Natsu's chest but their movements had slowed. On the other hand, Natsu's hand had come to a stop below Lucy's breast. He was hesitant to go further, he didn't want to push it and make Lucy uncomfortable but his brain was really helping him make good decision.

Slowly he cupped the underside of Lucy's breast and giving it an experimental squeeze, he waited for Lucy's reaction. He heard her breath catch but she didn't break away from the kiss or show any signs of discomfort, so he squeezed her breast again. This time he got more of a reaction. Lucy moaned into their kiss before pulling away to catch her breath. When she looked Natsu in the eyes she could see the lust in his eyes but as she looked at him through lidded eyes she knew she looked the same.

"Hey Lucy, you know I think you'd-" Natsu began before bursting out laughing.

"What?" Lucy said feeling laughter bubbling into her voice, Natsu's laugh was too contagious even in situations like this.

"I think you'd look better without the top on" he said as he tried to stop his laughter.

"What?!" Lucy asked her cheeks reddening. It's not like she was against it was just…embarrassing and that thought made her feel like she was a virgin all over again.

"I mean you've seem to have been enjoying feeling up my chest" Natsu said as the humorous twinkle that had been in his eye disappearing back into lust "Of course you don't have to do it if you don't want-" he was abruptly cut off with Lucy with pulling his face back down to hers in a sloppy kiss. Their teeth clinked against each other and their nose smushed together.

Lucy pulled back and muttered out a soft 'ow' before she said "It's fine Natsu, I'm fine with you seeing me like that" she than untied the sting keeping the top around her neck and then pulled it off all while Natsu watched he silently. She waited for his reaction but when he didn't say anything or do anything for a few seconds she was opening her mouth to say something when she felt Natsu lips press a kiss onto one of her exposed nipples. A moan escaped from her moth and she let her head fall back against the couch.

Natsu began ravishing her breast; his tongue slid across her nipple and began drawing circles around her nipple. Her nipples seemed to grow harder with every caress and she let out louder moans. Her hands had moved from Natsu's chest and were now residing on his shoulders. Natsu moved his free hand to Lucy's other breast and began kneading it. Lucy's moans were beginning to be replaced with panting as she felt abdomen grow tighter and a need deep inside of her began to grow.

In hopes of releasing some of the friction Lucy began grinding faster against Natsu. She felt him moan but he didn't show any signs of stopping his attention towards her breast as he began meeting her pace. Lucy arched her back as he began to suck on her nipple.

As she panted heavily she couldn't help but think how she wanted him and all those other cheesy things people say in books and movies that meant that she wanted to have sex with Natsu. Then all of a sudden, without any warning, she felt his hand fall away from her breast and moved to her thigh, griping it tightly. His lips left her breast with a wet pop.

"Natsu?" Lucy asked weakly as she tried to calm her panting, she lifted her head up to look at him and was greeted by Natsu's lips meeting hers in a hot kiss. When he pulled away he placed a kiss on her jawbone and began to pepper her with kisses from her jaw to her collar bone to her breast to her stomach before he pressed a kiss her hip right above her bikini bottom that was all that stood between him and Lucy's womanhood.

Lucy's felt her breath catch in her throat as she waited to see what Natsu would do next. She was aching for his touch but when it didn't come she looked down at Natsu. He seemed to be hesitating as though he was worried that she didn't want this. "It's fine Natsu" Lucy said as the words left her mouth "I want you" she said in almost a purr.

Natsu gave a small nod and a thick "okay" before he slowly pulled down Lucy's bikini bottom that had become damp. He was instantly hit by Lucy's smell and it made his head spin. He paused for a second to let the reality of what he was about to do hit him, that he was about to take another step in his relationship with Lucy. He hadn't expected it to be happening so…soon.

He was broken out of his thoughts when he heard Lucy say his name, wondering what he was doing. Natsu pushed away his thoughts and pressed a kiss to the inside of Lucy's thigh "Yeah I know Lucy" he said before he moved his lips towards her womanhood.

Lucy sucked in her breath when she felt Natsu's lips fall onto her. His tongue soon began to making its way along her folds eliciting mews from Lucy as she tugged at his hair, driving him on. She didn't know how but it seemed like Natsu knew just how to pleasure as if he had known for years. He added his finger in her as well, inserting it and then pulling it out before quickly pushing it back inside her once again.

Natsu was soon playing her like an instrument and Lucy loved. When she came for the first that night she felt it as she clenched around Natsu. Throwing her head back against the couch she dug her nails into Natsu's scalp as she cried out his name. As she lay on the couch panting heavily, Natsu and hers panting almost synchronized, with her legs still wrapped loosely around Natsu's midsection.

"That was….amazing" Lucy said between breaths.

"Yeah" Natsu replied as his breathing returned to normal.

"The only thing you could do to ruin it is if you said something wired like complimenting the face I made when I had my orgasm" Lucy said with a roll of her eyes.

"Please don't tell me someone done that" Natsu said before bursting out laughing.

"Well I've had worse said to I guess" Lucy said with a shrug "Now then" she said sitting out slightly and extending her arm "I think we need to even the playing ground once again" wrapping her hand around the elastic of Natsu's suit she pulled it down past his hips.

"Woah Lucy, geez you could've just told me to take 'em off. No need to be hasty" Natsu said with a chuckle as shimmed the rest of the way out of his suit before discarding it on the floor.

"Whatever you say" Lucy said before she moved her lips to his neck. Feathering her lips across his pulse she felt him shiver above her causing her to smirk. This time she could be the one to be in control. Peppering his jawline with kisses Lucy took her hands away from Natsu's hair and moved them to his shoulders.

Lucy was enjoying her feeling of being in control when she felt Natsu's hand grab the sides of her face and pulling her to him in a searing kiss. Smiling against his lips she figured that she was fine with sharing control as well. Anticipation was flowing through their veins.

Natsu had pulled away from her and had relocated his attention to her neck. He dragged his tongue across her jaw and her pulse, slowly moving down to the base of her neck. Lucy sucked in her breath as she dug her nails into Natsu's back. The fire and need was returning faster than it ever had, she wanted him.

"Natsu, don't hold back" she said practically growling. He had been gentler than she had expected and it was what she was too used to her. She wanted Natsu to take her like she had always imagined, hard and ferocious.

Natsu's actions immediately changed. He was now sucking and biting at the sensitive skin on her neck, his fingers dug into her thighs. Groaning she dug her nails harder into Natsu's shoulders, adjusting her position under him. She could feel Natsu's erection pressed against her thigh, and it had been come even more present since his bottoms had come off.

"Dammit Lucy" Natsu muttered against her neck "I want you!"

"Then take me" she breathed. Natsu sat up between her legs, lifting her up enough that their hips were aligned. She could feel his erect cock throbbing against her core; Natsu began to mutter nonsense, senseless words as he settled himself at her entrance.

Primal insects had taken over both their minds, all their brains were telling them was that they wanted, no needed the other. As he pressed his tip the only word tumbling from his lips was her name. Pushing inside of her, connecting them as one, Lucy cried out his name in delight, her nails digging deep enough into his flesh now to draw blood. Pleasure was taking her over.

They both cried out in pleasure as Natsu pushed into her deeper, incoherent sounds, groans tumbling from their lips as they both tried to adjust to the sensation of him buried inside her fully. Once she had adjusted she pressed her hips forward eagerly to tell him she was fine and watched as a grin appeared across Natsu's face.

"Don't hold back" she muttered as she felt him beginning to pull out.

"Whatever you want" Natsu muttered back with his trademark grin before granting her request. Slamming himself back inside of her Lucy hissed as she dragged her nails down Natsu's back.

Clenching his teeth and shutting his eyes, Natsu buried himself as deep inside her as he could go before pulling out and slamming back into her with a growl. Lucy was using his back as practically a scratching post as she dug her nails frantically into his flesh. Lucy ground against him, arching her back at every one of Natsu's wild thrusts.

All of a sudden she felt herself being pulled upwards; her body was pressed against Natsu's as he wrapped his arms around her, keeping her close. Due to the new angle Natsu was able to push himself even deeper into her, adding to the please. Lucy let her head loll back and her mouth hang open; she had long since closed her eyes to prevent sweat from running into her eyes.

Pressing her face into the side of his neck Lucy groaned "Harder!"

"Shit Lucy" was his response but he complied. Digging his fingers into her hips, he pushed them down as he began to pound into her with more vigor. Guttural sounds came from his mouth as he pounded into her further that went along with Lucy's loud moans. With every movement of his shoulders blades, Natsu could feel the claw marks that Lucy had left and he loved it, it drove him on right along with her moans.

Lucy bit into Natsu's shoulder as she began to feel herself lose grip on reality and tumble into an abyss. Feeling herself clench around him, she soon exploded into a million pieces.

"Natsuuu!" she moaned into his shoulder as she came around him. But Natsu was not finished yet but he was close to it. Her moan had sent him closer to the edge and after a few more slowed down thrusts he came as well. Moaning her name he buried his face into her neck and gave it a few soft kisses.

The two lay together on the couch, with Natsu resting to the side of Lucy only covering half of her body, panting as they tried to regain their breath. As their bodies came down from their high, Natsu nuzzled Lucy neck as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"That was amazing" Lucy sighed as he felt Natsu slid his arm around her waist were it had once been.

"Yeah" Natsu said in agreement before adding "I love you."

"Love you too" Lucy muttered as she felt sleep take over her system. Cuddling closer into Natsu's warmth she sighed happily as she closed her eyes and soon entered sleep.


	38. Burnt Pancakes

As sunlight hit Lucy's eyes, she opened them wearily before rolling over hopping to find a warm body next to her to cuddle with. But when she rolled over onto cold sheets she looked over onto the other side of the bed to find it unoccupied. Scrunching her face up in confusion, Lucy sat up and looked around the room. She was instantly hit by the cold air as the sheets slid off her upper half.

Damn, why couldn't her land lady just accept that it was now officially winter and turn on the heat?! This was why she needed Natsu, but he was nowhere to be found, at least in her bedroom anyway.

Sighing she scooched herself over to the side of the bed and considered for a few seconds to just wrap the sheets around her body for warmth when she spotted Natsu's t-shirt lying on the floor near her. Smiling she leaned off the bed a little to grab the shirt. Pulling it over her head she inhaled the familiar scent of Natsu. Slipping the covers off, she shuffled her way towards the kitchen. If Natsu was anywhere, he would be there.

As expected she found him there. She walked into the kitchen and was greeted by a purr from Happy and a mumbled "Mornin'" from Natsu.

"Morning" Lucy replied as walked over and she slipped her arms around Natsu's waist. Pressing her body against Natsu's back she instantly felt the familiar heat radiating from his body.

"I take it your cold?" Natsu asked with a chuckle.

"Mhm" Lucy mumbled pressing her face into his bare back "If only the land lady would get the hint that it's as cold as Antarctica in the apartments."

"I don't think it's that bad, besides give me a few minutes and I'll have something to warm you up."

"Say's the guy that's a walking heater" Lucy said before realizing that he was standing by the stove, which since last week when he burned their dinner and started a small fire, he was banned from using "What are you doing?"

"Making pancakes, why?" Natsu said as he flipped a pancake. He had really hoped that Lucy hadn't noticed, but as per usual he was out of luck.

"Aren't you banned from using the stove?" Lucy asked with an accusing tone slipping into her voice. She hadn't moved from the position she was currently in but she could hear Natsu's heart rate speed up.

"Well I mean it has been two weeks" Natsu said cautiously as he stared intently at the pancakes in the pan trying to figure a way to get out of this situation without Lucy skinning him alive. "You were asleep and I was hungry. I knew you wouldn't have been happy if I woke you up just to make me breakfast, so I decided to let you sleep and make breakfast." Natsu could feel Lucy's grip around his stomach tighten with each passing second.

"You know there are plenty things that you could make for breakfast that you don't need the stove" Lucy said as she continued to tighten her grip around Natsu.

"Well I was in the mood for pancakes so I figured I'd surprise you with breakfast" checking on the pancakes, he was truthfully hoping that Lucy would forgive him and lift the ban she had placed on him with the promise of pancakes.

"Uh huh" Lucy said as she finally released her grip from around Natsu's stomach. She heard him take a deep breath after she said "I'm extending your ban from the stove for another two weeks."

"What?!" Natsu said whipping his head around to look at Lucy with a pleading look on his face. "Come on Lucy" he whined as he clasped his hands together "Don't do this! I haven't set anything on fire and there hasn't been any smoke. It's so boring just eating microwavable meals!"

"Well how am I supposed to trust you if you can't even stick with a three week ban of using the stove. Just because you didn't burn anything doesn't mean anything in this matter."

"But Lucy!" Natsu whined with a pout on his face. But he could by the look on her face that no amount of begging would get her to change her mind. She was standing her ground and he wouldn't be able to get her to change her mind.

"Natsu you are a grown man and should know how to control yourself. If you can't help but set my stove on fire then I can't let you use it!" crossing her arms, Lucy watched with pursed lips for Natsu's reaction. At the moment he was slowly losing the pout on his face and it looked like he was thinking of a response.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" Lucy asked but Natsu didn't respond "Well anyway since you can't touch the stove I guess I'll just finish up the pancakes for us." As Lucy made her move for the pan, Natsu's hand shot out and wrapped round her wrist. She stopped in surprise and turned her attention towards him. When she turned her attention to him she instantly recognized the look on his face.

"Natsu" she began with a warning tone in her voice but was abruptly cut off when Natsu slammed his lips down onto hers. Lucy knew what he was playing at; he was hoping that if he kissed her enough she would give in to letting him use the stove. Or at least make her forget about it for the time being. Knowing this, there was no way he was going to be able to accomplish what he had planned. But it's not like Lucy was against a little kissing.

She tugged her one arm away from Natsu's grip and then draped her arms over Natsu's shoulders. Natsu placed on hand lightly against her check and the other around her waist. When Natsu pulled away from the kiss a smirk adorned his face but it was quickly wiped away as Lucy said "You know just kissing me won't make me change my mind."

"Well damn" Natsu said with a stumped look on his face "But can I at least finish making the pancakes?"

"No" Lucy said while shaking her head.

"Please?"

"No" Lucy said louder while staring him the eyes with an amused look. He was just too easy to beat in arguments.

"Please" he pleaded before pressing a kiss to her check.

"No" Lucy said as she held back a giggle.

"Pretty please" he said as he kissed her neck.

"Noooo" Lucy said as a laugh escaped from her lips. Natsu continued this torment of pleases and kisses. "Stop" Lucy laughed she felt tears in her eyes, trying pushing him away she tried to stop her laughter but each kiss made it harder to stop.

"I swear" Lucy said once she had finally managed to push Natsu's face away from hers "You're such a kid."

"Am not" he said with a smile.

"Are too" Lucy replied with a smirk before she smelled something….familiar. But at the same time she couldn't quiet place her finger on it.

Natsu sniffed the air before asking "Do you smell smoke?"

"No" Lucy said her eyes widening before turning her attention from Natsu and towards the stove. Sure enough a large black cloud of smoke was coming from the pan. "Natsu!" Lucy yelled enraged.

"Oh crap!" Natsu yelled as he pulled away from Lucy and yanked the pan away from the stove. Turning off the heat Natsu fanned the smoke that was coming from the pan far enough away from the smoke detector that they probably wouldn't have to deal with a visit from the fire department. Lucy just watched the spectacle as she shook her head.

"Does this help you see why I can't trust you around a stove?" Lucy asked her eyebrow rose as she watched Natsu look into the pan in defeat.

"Well you were the one that distracted me" Natsu huffed as he set the pan on the stove.

"Don't point fingers at me" Lucy said, crossing her arms as she looked at the contents of the pan. Sure enough the pancakes were blackened chards. "Well come on" Lucy muttered as she turned towards a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of syrup "These pancakes aren't going to eat themselves."

"Wait, you want to eat these" Natsu paused as he turned to look at what were supposed to be the pancakes "pieces of coal?"

"Its fine" Lucy said "If you put enough syrup on it you won't even taste the burned part, well probably" she finished with a shrug "Besides you'll eat about anything."

Natsu shrugged and said "Okay then I guess it's been decided that we're going to eat burned pancakes."

"It's more like were going to be eating charcoal or something" Lucy said with a laugh before pulling out plates and forks "Now come on then, serve up this breakfast."

"Whatever you say miss" Natsu said with a chuckle before dividing the pancakes between the two plates.

The two sat and down and tried their best to make the pancakes semi-palatable. Lucy drowned hers in syrup while Natsu, well Natsu just shoved them in his mouth without even bothering to taste. Lucy couldn't help but feel; well she didn't know how to describe it. It was a warm feeling that just spread throughout her body when she was with Natsu, even when they were doing mundane things like grocery shopping or watching movies or eating breakfast she had that feeling. It was like she was just happy to be around him, which wasn't weird at all. She was normally happy to be around Natsu, except when he's pissed her off or something.

But she liked the being around him all the time. During the weekends he would pretty much live at her apartment and sometimes during the week he'd spend the night. Lately though she had been wishing that he well…

"Natsu" Lucy said breaking the silence that had fallen over them since they had started eating.

Natsu paused and looked up "What?"

"What do you think about moving in with me?" Lucy then waited for the answer. The kitchen was silent. Lucy had practically stopped breathing as she waited for Natsu's reaction. The only noise she heard was the metallic clinking of Natsu's fork as it hit the plate.

"Umm well I guess I'd be fine with it, I mean I practically already live here. It's just, I don't know. Don't you think it be kinda weird, to others I mean, not that I'd care but….we've only been dating for what? Three months? I mean I don't want you to think I'm against the idea cause I'm not. I'd love to move in with you but…." Natsu said frantically before slowly dwindling off.

"But?" Lucy said as she looked at him, biting her lip in worry.

"But how would I get rid of all the crap I have?"

"That's your problem?" Lucy asked confused.

"Well I have a lot of stuff I have to sell if I was going to move in with you and all the other technical stuff I'd have to do would just be a lot of work. It would take me a few weekends before I'd be able to move in" Natsu said as he thought it over "It's not like I could just move in, but I mean if you'd be fine with me not hanging around for a few weekends then I guess my answer would have to be yeah. I'd love to move in with you."

Lucy couldn't help but stare at Natsu in awe and confusion as what he had just said. It was almost like he had been thinking about it "Have you been thinking about moving in with me?"

"Yeah" Natsu said with a shrug "You're probably the person I've been most serious with in a relationship. I've thought about moving in together for almost a month now. But I had to figure out which one of us had the best place to move into. Then I had to figure out how to get rid of all my stuff and such, then it was figuring out when the best time to ask."

"Wow, you really thought this through" Lucy said awestruck "I haven't thought about it that much."

"It's fine" Natsu said waving his hand "All I need to know is are you serious about moving in together."

"Well yeah, I guess I am serious about moving in" Lucy said before pressing her lips together "I'm ready to take what's considered one of the big steps in a relationship."

"Okay then" Natsu said as he reached over the table and grabbed her hand "I guess I should tell my landlord I'm moving out."

"And I guess I should tell mine someone's moving in."


	39. Boxes and Snowballs

Natsu hadn't been kidding when he said it would probably take him a few weekends before he was fully moved in. It had been two weekends already and they had only been able to pack up most of his possession's in cardboard boxes and then hauling them over to Lucy's apartment via Natsu's car since he refused to pay for a moving truck. Lucy hadn't even realized how much stuff Natsu had, most of which he tried to sell all last weekend which was probably the reason why he still had cardboard boxes sitting on his kitchen floor.

As Lucy stared down at the pile of boxes (which only had like twenty boxes but still that was a lot) Natsu picked up three that all had the words 'random shit' on their sides in sharpie. "We are going to get all of these boxes out of your apartment today, I'm not spending another weekend packing things in boxes and then piling those boxes into a car before unloading said boxes again."

"Well I better, todays the last day I'm technically supposed to be even living here. Apparently someone's moving in tomorrow" Natsu said shifting to the weight of the stack of boxes in his arms "Besides it's not like you'll be totally free of boxes after that, don't forget the best part, taking everything back out of the boxes" Natsu said with a sly grin before heading out to his car.

Letting out a groan and cursing under her breath, Lucy bent over and picked up to boxes before following Natsu outside. She was blinded for a second by the bright white snow lying on the ground. She never really did understand why it got so much brighter when it snowed. It was still snowing lightly and it looked like there might even be a chance of a snow day tomorrow with the four inches of snow, even though none of the roads were iced over. Setting the boxes in the back of Natsu's car she looked into the trunk to see how much more room there was and was disappointed to see that there was only enough room for maybe five more boxes, seven if the scrunched them in. It looked like it was going to be a long day.

Turning around she saw Natsu talking animatedly into the phone before quickly ending the call. "Are you finally giving in and asking for a moving truck?" Lucy asked hopefully.

"No, besides they said they were closed due to the threat of ice or something" Natsu said mockingly with a sigh.

"Is that even allowed?"

"I don't know, but I called Gajeel and a few others and asked for some extra trunks for all these boxes" Natsu said with a shrug before turning his attention sadly towards the snow "To think we're wasting a perfectly good snow day."

"A perfectly good snow day would only happen during the week when were supposed to be teaching" Lucy said crossing her arms and shaking her head.

"I know but still any day where were not working and there's snow it's fun. Remember last year when you convinced me to go skating-"Natsu began before Lucy cut in.

"And you couldn't even stand up straight or even stay still" Lucy said before bursting out laughing "You…you…you kept falling down!"

"It was so embarrassing, I'm sure my butt was bruised for weeks" Natsu said dramatically before sighing and beginning to walk back towards the building "But these boxes aren't going to pack themselves." Lucy followed close behind him; she felt bad knowing that Natsu always looked forward to snow. He was like a kid in school, whenever it snowed or if there was even a chance of snow he would always call her or find some way to tell her the news. But there would be plenty of other snow days this year, hopefully.

After she had climbed up the stairs up to Natsu's apart she grabbed the two closest boxes to the door before heading back down. She hoped the others showed up soon, particularly Gajeel. He and Natsu would probably end up turning moving the boxes into a game which meant it would get down quicker and she wouldn't have to keep lugging Natsu's junk down the stairs.

She caught Natsu's pink hair as she squished the boxes into the trunk of the car; it looked like that no amount of squeezing could help them get anymore boxes into the car. With a dejected sigh she turned around prepared to tell Natsu to slow down and that there was no point in going back up the stairs when she felt something cold hit her directly in the face.

Lucy stopped shocked; her vision was black for a second before whatever had hit her in the face slide down her face, leaving behind a wet and cold trail. It dropped to the pavement and when Lucy looked down she saw a pile of snow sitting at her feet. Looking up she saw Natsu clutching his stomach while trying not to laugh. "Haha, really funny Natsu" Lucy deadpanned as she raised her mitten clad hand to her face and wiped away the trail from the snowball.

"Oh come on Lucy, we got a few minutes before someone shows up and we both know that we're not going to get any other boxes into the car" Natsu said before bending down and picking up some more snow "Might as well make the best of our situation and actually have some fun with all of this snow."

"Does it have to be a snowball fight though?" Lucy asked not really looking forward to getting pegged with any more snow.

"Come on, it'll be fun! Who doesn't enjoy a little snowball fight?" Natsu asked with a bright smile on his face, but his eyes were practically daring her to take up the challenge of fighting him.

"Fine" Lucy said with a huff before crouching down next to a snowdrift "But I hope you don't mind" she dug her hand into the drift and began to mold the snow together "If I get a free hit in!" Jumping back up, she aimed and threw the misshapen ball of snow at Natsu.

Natsu hadn't apparently been expecting that since it hit him square in the chest. He let out an oof before a smirk spread across his face "Oh it's **on**!" Lucy let out a shriek as she dived behind the snow drift. Natsu quickly ran behind a bush before quickly making himself a pile of snowballs. There was no way he was going to let Lucy win this game, the person who had to be taught how to make a snowball by him. It was student vs teacher, and the teacher was always supposed to win. Or was it the student, Natsu wasn't really sure how it happened in movie but his logic seemed correct.

Glancing over the bush he could see the top of Lucy's head peeking over the snow drift. Smirking he grabbed a few snowballs before he quietly began to make his way towards her hiding place. He was only a few feet away when Lucy popped up and threw another snowball. He quickly ducked it and narrowly missed getting hit in the face. Raising his arm he sent a snowball in the direction the one that had been aimed at his head, but it hit nothing, it looked like Lucy had ducked back down behind her protection.

"How did you know I was coming?" Natsu asked he began to creep slowly towards her hiding place.

"Your footsteps gave you away; the snow was crunching like crazy" Damn. He forgot just how unstealthily snow was, but at least he had distracted her enough to be right over top her drift.

Readying his arm he bent over the snowbank and said "Hello." Lucy let out a shriek and reached out for a snowball but it was too late, Natsu had already planted one right on top of her head.

"Natsu!" she shrieked before grabbing some snowballs and looking up ready to hit Natsu's smirking face and saw he was nowhere to be seen. Jumping up she saw him heading back to the safety of a bush and saw he had no more ammo left. He was defenseless. "Oh Natsu~" Lucy cooed before jumping over the snow drift and running towards Natsu.

Natsu turned his head around and saw a grinning Lucy running towards him, with a snowball in each hand and him with none. He began to run faster towards the bush and felt as a snowball whizzed right by his face before landing in a clump in front of him. Just as he was reaching the bush he dived towards safety but he felt a snowball hit him in the back. Grimacing, he grabbed two snowballs of his own and turned back towards Lucy, who was looking sheepish and very unguarded with no snowballs in hand. "Oh Lucy, it's my turn~"

With a shriek Lucy turned on her heels as she began to run back towards her snow drift. Letting out an evil laugh, Natsu sprung to his feet and began to follow on Lucy's heels. Once he was close enough he drew his arm back and threw the snowball. It hit her on her shoulder and seemed to spur her on. Natsu knew that if he didn't do anything that Lucy would make it back to her fort and they would just play the same back and forth game, he need a plan and boy did he have an idea.

Lucy was almost to the safety of her drift when Natsu lunged forward like a cat and grabbed her around her waist and brought her down into the drift. "Natsu" she sputtered as she spit snow out of her mouth.

"Sorry Lucy, it called for desperate measures, there was no way I was letting you get back to all of your snowballs" Natsu said casually as he waited for her reaction.

"I can't believe you!" Lucy huffed "You just can't give me a chance to win can you?"

"Sorry Lucy" Natsu said as he bent down and nuzzled her check "You know I'm a sore loser, or at least that's what you always tell me."

"Don't try and nuzzle me" Lucy said giving Natsu's chest a light push "I'm angry at you."

"Now who's being a sore loser?" Natsu asked with a laugh before moving his nuzzling down to her neck.

"Natsuuuuu" Lucy said as laughter began to escape her. Both his hair and nose was tickling her neck and face, and Natsu knew just how ticklish her neck could be.

"Sorry Lucy" Natsu laughed as he peppered her neck with kisses before resuming his nuzzling "But I won so I'm just claiming my prize."

"Not everything has to have a prize you know?" Lucy giggled.

"Yeah, yeah but I love any excuse that I can use to shower you in attention" Natsu said before planting a kiss on her ear.

"Natsu" Lucy laughed "Come on, someone's going to be here soon."

"Sooooo, you think I have a problem with people watching me kiss you" Natsu said before placing his lips on her jaw.

"You might not but I do kinda care if someone sees us in a snow drift with your lips attached to my neck" Lucy said. She heard him mumble something into her neck before lifting his head with a pout on his face. "Don't pout; you are a full grown man."

"You ruin all my fun Lucy" Natsu said while shaking his head "But one more kiss" Natsu said before crashing his lips onto hers. Lucy rolled her eyes but gladly accepted both the kiss and the warmth that came from it. Moving her hands to his cheeks she sighed into the kiss and was considering taking it a step farther when she thought she heard the faint sound of a car.

"Umm are we interrupting something or…"

Lucy and Natsu shot apart and turned their attention to a very flustered Jellal and an even more flustered Erza.

"We-we-we cou-could always come back later" Erza stuttered out, her face the shade of a strawberry.

"No, no guys it's fine" Lucy said pushing Natsu fully off of her so she could stand up.

"Yeah Erza its fine" Natsu said quickly jumping to his feet "We were just….passing time?"

"Ahh, well then I guess you guys could use some help moving some boxes?" Jellal asked helpfully.

"Yes, yes that would be really helpful" Lucy said before punching Natsu in the stomach "Your supposed to be the one with such keen hearing" Lucy hissed.

"Well I guess I was too busy kissing you now wasn't I" Natsu hissed back before heading over and leading Erza and Jellal towards his apartment. Lucy stood frozen as her face turned a similar shade that Erza's had been earlier, sometimes Natsu was just too much, even when he did nothing.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the big gap in updating but after this week I'll have alot more free time. While I probably won't be able to update next Monday, definitely by the Monday after that I'll start updating regularly once again.


	40. Why Are Teenagers So Awkward?

"How many more days is it 'til winter break again?" Lucy said with a yawn before pressing her head against the seat.

"Sixteen days exactly" Natsu answered as they pulled into the school's parking lot.

"Including weekends?" Lucy asked hopefully.

"Yeah, including weekends" Natsu said with a chuckle as he pulled into the closet parking spot to the door. Turning off the car he turned towards Lucy and said "Come on you can make it; we all know half the kids won't show up the last few days before the break."

"Sure that's great for you, but I have to finish the fifth unit before break and let me tell you those kids are not going to like it if I have them read and analyze six short stories and write an argumentative essay before break" Lucy said with a sigh before unbuckling her seatbelt. Leaning over she grabbed her bag that was at her feet before turning to Natsu with a pleading look on her face.

"What do you want?" Natsu asked cocking his head at her; he had seen her earlier that morning shoving something into the back of the car.

"Why do you assume I want you to do something?" Lucy asked, the pleading look not leaving her face.

"I know that face" Natsu said with a roll of his eyes "So let me guess, I'm carrying that box of papers that's in the back aren't I?"

"Please and thank you" Lucy said the pleading look leaving her face and being replaced with pleased look.

As Lucy got out of the car she heard Natsu ask "Why exactly do you have a box of papers?"

"I guess I've been forgetting to bring in all the kids graded papers since I've been so busy helping you move in" Lucy said as she closed the door "You got it."

Her answer was a slammed car door and Natsu appearing next to her with a huge box in his arms. "You're so sweet" Lucy said with a smile before kissing him lightly on the cheek.

"Trying to butter me up or something, let me guess when I drop this off in your class you're going to want me to fix all the wobbly desks in the class?" Natsu asked sarcastically as he followed Lucy into the building. Shifting the weight of the box around in his arms he was kinda glad Lucy's room was relatively close to the front door, he hadn't realized just how heavy a box of papers could be. Lucy had to have something else stashed inside the box, rocks?

"Oh don't be such a baby, I already got some kids in workshop to fix them for me" Lucy said with a wave of her hand before digging through her bag for the keys to her door.

"I'm not being a baby, I'm just tired of carrying boxes after doing it for two whole weekends" Natsu said with a huff as they arrived at Lucy's door. Natsu tapped his foot as he waited for Lucy to find her keys; she always seemed to be misplacing them in her bag. Looking around he noticed how most of the other teachers already seemed to be in. "Are we always this late?"

"Hmmm" Lucy said looking up at him with her bundle of keys in hand.

"Are we always, like the last teachers in?" Natsu asked again.

"No, most of the time Gray or Cana who's the last teacher in so it's not like were late. For example" Lucy began as she stuck the key into the door and began to wiggle it "Since the kids are going to be dropped off here in about twenty minutes that means you'll probably see Cana running through the front door with two minutes to spare before the bell for class to start rings."

Finally after enough wiggling the door unlocked with a click and the Lucy opened it, it was her luck that she had gotten the door with the broken lock that the janitors were just too lazy to fix. "Where do you want this box?" Natsu asked, walking in behind her.

"Oh just put it by my desk" Lucy said as she threw her bag onto the floor by her chair. Sitting down in her chair with a flop she turned on her computer and waited for it to start up.

"Is there really only papers in here?" Natsu asked as he sat the box down by here.

"Well there is a few projects that I gave some students to do as extra credit" Lucy said absentmindedly as the familiar blue screen popped up onto her computer she instinctively hit the three keys it asked for without even reading it and typed in her username and password. As the blue welcome graced the screen she turned towards Natsu who had taken the lid off the box.

"You know you could've told me I was carrying like five shoeboxes that were all filled with rocks" Natsu said as he started down at the two diagrams that were in his hands.

"We read a short story about mountain climbers; I guess they all thought the easiest way to do the project was to put a bunch of rocks into a shoebox" Lucy said with a shrug "Besides I'm sure you didn't mind carrying them in for me."

"Yeah, yeah, you would've have probably roped someone else in to carry it in for you if I hadn't agreed" Natsu as he placed the shoeboxes back into the box. Placing his hands on his knees he stood up before turning his attention towards Lucy "So unless you need something else I'm going to head to the gym. I kinda promised a few seniors that if they came in early I'd let them mess around in the gym and I bet by now ten of them are standing outside the gym trying to pick the lock or something."

"No I don't need anything that's too pressing" Lucy said as she tried to think of anything that she needed Natsu to do, but he was right about the whole seniors picking the lock thing. She knew a few who would definitely do something like that, so it would probably be for the best if she let him go and talk about the matter at hand later.

"Okay then" Natsu said as he bent down and pressed his lips to hers for a light kiss "See you later" he said before bouncing off to the gym.

"Yeah, see you later" Lucy called after him before leaning back in her chair. Seeing that her computer had finally loaded, she quickly opened up her files and printed up a worksheet for her first period class. It was looking like they would be working until the day before break if she wanted to meet the deadline. As she waited for the twenty some copies to print, she bent down to silence her phone right as it went off.

Raising an eyebrow when she didn't know the number she slid he phone open. Putting it next to her ear Lucy said "Hello?"

Lucy approached the gym with what you could call caution, she just called it being smart, after all, being hit one too many times by a stray ball when she actually visited Natsu during her lunchbreak was enough to make anyone consider their safety before entering the room. Opening the door slowly she peaked her head through the door to see if it was safe enough for her to enter and safely make her way to Natsu without making any contact with a ball. Seeing that all the students seemed to be standing in one clump as they all stared at what looked to be racquets, most with dumbstruck faces as if they've never seen one before.

Opening the door fully, she stepped into the gym and was instantly hit by the horribly familiar smell of rubber and sweat. Leaving the door open she walked towards Natsu who seemed to have sensed her presence. He turned around and when he saw it was her, a smile graced his face.

"Hey Lucy, I can't believe your visiting me during your lunch. Last time you visited you managed to get hit square in the face with a dodgeball and then swore you'd never come back to visit" Natsu said, chuckling at the memory.

Rolling her eyes Lucy responded "I'm glad you find that memory humorous."

"Oh Luce, don't take it like that. Besides you should be safe today, I think only a few of them know anything about tennis so I'm sure half of them will just spend most of class staring at the racquet waiting for it to tell them what to do. Or you know, waiting for someone else to start it for them" Natsu said with a shrug before turning to his hoard of students "Okay guys, I want you to get some tennis balls and practice hitting them up against the wall, got it?!"

A slew of "Got it!" and "okays", along with a few "Umms" were his response but they all seemed to head off somewhere as if they knew what they were doing.

"Natsu" Lucy asked turning to him "Do you even know anything about tennis?"

"I know everything that I googled about tennis last night" Natsu said "So I wouldn't call myself an expert but I kinda know what I'm doing."

"I wonder how many kids will end up going to the nurse's office this period" Lucy asked sarcastically with a shake of her head.

"Oh come on, it'll be fine. How can they hurt themselves playing tennis?" Natsu asked before turning nervously towards one kid and muttering "Though with him in here I never know."

"Will in this class?" Lucy asked knowingly, and by the face Natsu made after she asked him said it all. "Anyway, I have a reason for visiting you during my lunch instead of sitting in my safe and quiet room."

"Oh you do?" Natsu said jokingly turning his full attention back to Lucy "You sure it's not because you love me?"

"Oh I'm sure it's not that."

"You're so cruel Lucy."

"Sorry" she said before changing her expression to a more serious one "Anyway I was planning on talking to you about later this week, but after you left my class this morning I got a phone call."

"Oh" Natsu said raising his eyebrows "So what is this news or whatever you need to tell me?"

"Well it seems quite a few people have been looking at my father's house surprisingly and there's two people who are currently bidding over who will get it" Lucy explained, she waited for Natsu to shake his head before continuing "So the real estate agent called me this morning to tell me that I should find some time soon to go up to my father's house and clear it out. It all depends on when if officially gets bought but she says I need to get up there in the next three months."

"So what do you need me to do?" Natsu asked cocking his head at her "I didn't even know that you were planning on selling your old man's house."

"Well I wasn't that sure on whether or not I wanted someone else to live in there, but it's not like I'd ever live in a house like that again. So it's just best to sell it off to some rich person who has too much money and get some money out of it. Better then it just sitting and collecting dust" Lucy said with a shrug before sighing "I mean, that's the place that holds pretty much all my memories of my mom…but she wouldn't want me to just let it sit there as a photo album instead of selling it so someone else can make new memories in it."

"Wow Lucy, that's gotta be tough" Natsu said placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Oh it's fine" Lucy said with a smile "There's a reason that pictures were invented. Plus most of my memories of that house aren't that great anyway. So it's not that big of a deal. What is a big deal is I'll have to move out all the crap in the house, and well, that's where you come in."

"Nooo!" Natsu whined "I just finished moving all my boxes! Now I have to move more?!"

"Oh come on you big baby, I'll wait until the third month to bother with getting it done. That means we can go in February. Come on, think of it as a vacation" Lucy said helpfully, because no matter how much he complained he **was** going with her up to her father's house to move his stuff. Even if she had to knock him out and duct tape him to the seat.

"I guess it's fine, even if I did say no you'd find some way to rope me up there with you to help" Natsu said with a shrug "I'm fine with it, I mean you helped me with my stuff so that means I have to help you with all your dad's stuff."

"Glad to see you'll be coming willingly, it be no fun if I have to force you" Lucy said before quickly checking "Crap, as much as I would love to continue this conversation I have to get back to my room. I have a meeting with Freed to discuss something about the sixth unit or something, sorry."

"Uh huh it's fine" Natsu said before quickly grabbing her arm before she could speed off "How does going out to eat tonight sound? Gajeel was telling me about this really cool Indian restaurant he and Levy went to the other and I thought you might like it."

"As long as you pay" Lucy said with a smirk.

"Of course I'll pay, so I'll see you later then" Natsu said letting go of her arm.

"Yep, later" Lucy said before leaning over and pressing a kiss to Natsu's cheek before running out of the gym.

"Oooooooooo" came numerous from behind Natsu. Sighing he turned around to see half of his students with smiles like the Cheshire cats. As he was opening his mouth to tell them to act their age for once and get back to their work when they all began to yell at the top of their lung "COACH DRAGNEEL AND MS. HEARTFILA SITTING IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-I-N-G~"

Placing his forehead in his hands Natsu shook his head and muttered "Teenagers, you'd think they'd act better than elementary school kids. Maybe I should switch over to an elementary school, it's not like I'd lose any maturity in the student I teach."

* * *

A/N: I've decided that I'll end this story on Chapter 50. So there's only going to be ten more chapters! I honestly can't wait to finish it, and I want to thank everyone who has read it, left comments and stuck around so far. I really appreciate it!


	41. Mistletoe

Now when it came to the holidays Natsu tended to get a little excited, which would normally cause him to pretty much go overboard with everything he did. Lucy knew first-hand just how bad he could get, one year he broke his foot in three places when he fell out his window trying to put Christmas lights up. At the time he had lived in an apartment and was on the third floor, Lucy never really did have the heart to tell him the reason they kicked him out of that building was probably because that wasn't the first time he had fallen out of his window. Plus in the whole contract thing it pretty much told him that it was forbidden to hang stuff outside his apartment but Natsu probably hadn't read it.

Plus there had been the time he had tripped over a chair and fell face first into a flight of stairs after he had drank way too much spiked eggnog and then somehow started a game of musical chairs. Let's just say that Lucy was about ready to bury him in the snow outside the emergency room that they had to sit in for four hours, on Christmas Eve.

So by now Lucy thought she was used to his excessiveness during the holidays but she was soon going to learn that Natsu could easily prove her wrong.

Earlier Natsu had went out to the store to buy some ingredients for Lucy because as per usual she was always the one who got stuck with the job of baking cookies for the holiday party the staff threw every year. He had come back with everything she had asked for and it seemed like he hadn't bought anything extra like he normally does, but he was acting strange. Like how he offered to put everything away and set up all her ingredients. But she figured it was just the 'holiday spirit' that seemed to be filling him.

She started to pick up something was odd when she could feel Natsu's eyes on her. Not in the sexual way or 'the minute you turn around I'm going to surprise you with a kiss' stare but like he was just watching her, or in a better words, spying on her. She just brushed it off and continued on mixing the batter for her cookies. A little while later she felt the stare vanish and the sound of Natsu talking to Happy, she just figured it was just him being weird.

But the minute she began to head from the kitchen to the next room, Natsu practically materialized out of thin air in front of her with an excited grin on his face.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" Lucy asked inquisitively, with her brow raised.

Natsu didn't respond but simply pointed above their heads. Lucy furrowed her brows at him before looking above them. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but she knew for sure it wasn't some plant.

"What the hell is that? It looks like a weird plant, Natsu did you go and buy some weird plant that's supposed to ward off evil or something again? I told you that they don't do anything and just end up making our apartment smell like someone's grandmother's house" Lucy asked, her eyes narrowed as she stared at him, waiting for her answer.

"I thought you were supposed to be the smart one" Natsu replied dumbly before bursting out laughing at Lucy's squawk in reply.

"Natsu" Lucy said staring him dead in the eyes "What kind of plant did you bring into our apartment this time? And how on earth did you attack it to the ceiling?"

"Well first off this plant I attacked to the ceiling by tape-"

"Tape?" Lucy asked openmouthed.

"Yes tape, now then, the plant is something known as mistletoe and I'm pretty sure you know the rest from there" Natsu said with a shrug while he analyzed her reaction.

"Wait so you went out and bought mistletoe as an excuse to kiss me?" Lucy asked dumbfounded "You do know there's better ways to do that, like asking?"

"Oh come on Lucy, have some holiday cheer!" Natsu exclaimed.

"It's still two weeks before any holiday" Lucy said.

"So does that mean I won't get my kiss?" Natsu asked dejectedly, sticking out his lip like a child who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Oh fine you big dummy" Lucy asked instantly causing Natsu to perk up "I'll humor you."

Natsu let out a whoop before bending down and pressing his lips down onto hers in a chaste, gentle kiss. His fingers intertwined in her hair and his one hand gently touched her face. Then as soon as the kiss started it ended.

"Are you happy now?" Lucy asked.

"Very" Natsu replied and then Lucy thought nothing of it. Until about a half an hour later when she had finished grading papers and was getting off the couch to go check on her cookies. Natsu appeared once again out of thin air and this time he had a huge grin on his face.

"What now?" Lucy asked, cocking her head. Natsu once again repeated the same gesture and once again when Lucy looked up there was a plant staring right back at her. "Natsu what the heck, you had a second one!" Lucy shrieked over Natsu's laughter.

"Man Lucy, I didn't think you'd get this angry" Natsu said "I didn't realize you hated to kiss me."

"You know that's not what I mean! Why did you have to buy a second one?" Lucy asked as shook her head.

"For fun duh" Natsu said before bending down to her level "So can I get my kiss?"

"Ridiculous" Lucy muttered before leaning into him and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "There are you happy? You've gotten me twice with your trick."

"I know, I guess I'm just great at being sneaky. Like a ninja!" Natsu exclaimed before disappearing again.

Lucy sighed as she tried to figure out how she didn't notice hanging up two different things of mistletoe. Surely he had to make some sort of noise, but earlier she had felt his eyes on her. He must have hanged the sprig of mistletoe above the entrance to the kitchen while she had been in there, and to make sure she didn't notice him he kept his eyes on her. Well at least she knew where his traps were.

She made it back into the kitchen, dodging the mistletoe by the entrance just in case Natsu was watching in hopes of another kiss, and took her cookies out from the oven. Setting them on the counter she decided to go take a shower while she waited for them to cool. Natsu was probably off digging through the one box that he had yet to open, the one that he claimed held 'all his holiday cheer' and she was guessing that soon she'd be watching every Christmas movie Natsu owned.

Slipping quietly out of the kitchen she headed towards the bathroom and as she was opening the door she felt two hands grip her shoulders firmly before spinning her around. Lucy let out a shriek but when she faced the person who had just scared the shit out of her she hit him right in the chest. "Natsu I swear I'm going to kill you before the end of the day" Lucy shrieked before hitting him again "Stop popping up out of nowhere."

"I didn't mean to scare you Lucy" Natsu said wiggling his eyebrows at her before letting go of her shoulders.

"Then what were you trying to do?" Lucy asked with pursed lips. What was going on with him today?

"I just thought I'd warn you" Natsu said simply with a shrug.

"Of what, is there a spider or something in there that I should know about?! Did you let Happy into my bath bombs again?" Lucy asked trying to figure out what the heck he could be warning her about. Did he flood the bathroom again or something?

Natsu just shrugged again before glancing up quickly to the ceiling.

"You didn't" Lucy muttered.

"What?" Natsu asked innocently.

Lucy took one quick up at the ceiling before letting out what sound of some sort of distressed gurgle "Natsu this is the **third** time!" Sure enough there was mistletoe hung right above them, how many had he hung up?!

"Hahahaha, got you Lucy" Natsu declared with a laugh before leaning down and quickly pressing his lips to hers before running off.

"Is this turning into a game to you?!" Lucy shrieked after him "If I had something in my hand I would throw it at you!" With a huff Lucy pushed the bathroom door open before slamming it behind her. Just how dedicated was Natsu to this? Was it a prank, was he just trying to get attention, or was it just Natsu being Natsu. It was their first holiday together as a couple, maybe he got super gushy or affectionate during the holidays, well at least more than he was the rest of the time.

Lucy figured she wouldn't question it and would just keep a watchful eye out for any more of that plant. She swore that if she found anymore that she would take it down, starting with the ones she already knew about. And so help her if he did anything stupid like tape it to his pants or something then Natsu better hope she was in a good mood if it happened.

After she got out of the shower she began to prioritize just how she was going to accomplish her task at hand. Well first she had to get on some clothes, and then she would take care of the one outside the bathroom. Once she had safely taken the one above the bathroom down, she slowly slinked out into the living room to take the one down from by the couch. Glancing around the room quickly to see if Natsu was nearby, she yanked down the plant once the coast was clear.

As she headed towards the kitchen she kept a watchful eye out for Natsu. Seeing no sign of him, she made it safely to the final mistletoe and took it down successfully. With a smile she marched into the kitchen with triumph and opened the trash can. She hesitated a bit because Natsu had spent money on these dumb plants, and it's not like it was a real bother to kiss him whenever she stood underneath one but she was pretty sure if her landlord walked in and saw them hanging on the ceiling with tape she would have a fit.

Sighing, she dropped them into the trash before closing the lid. Heading out of the kitchen she wasn't really sure what to do next. Maybe she could go look into Natsu's box to find some Christmas movie to cheer him up once he found out she had gotten rid of all the mistletoe.

Heading into their bedroom she dropped down by her side of the bed and pulled the box out from under the bed. Opening the flaps she noticed how there already seemed to be a few things missing, sifting through the few Christmas decorations, lights and a goofy Santa hat she soon came across a stack of movies. Looking through them she tried to find one that looked like it had been used a lot, or one that she knew the both of them liked. Even though she really didn't need to worry about it she couldn't help but feel like Natsu was being quiet, too quiet. No matter what he normally always seemed to be making some noise, but she hadn't heard him for a while.

Brushing it off, she pulled out a movie that looked promising when she heard a voice whisper her name into her ear. Jumping, she turned around and saw a smirking Natsu crouched down behind her. "Is it your goal to scare me or something to day?"

"No" Natsu said standing up before offering her his hand "I'm just trying to get some mistletoe kisses."

Taking his hand Lucy stood up and said "Or you could just ask which you're going to have to now because I got rid of all of them."

"I noticed" Natsu said while bouncing on his heels.

"And you're not angry, or sad?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope, why would I be?" Natsu asked raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know but I thought I could make up by watching a movie" Lucy said holding up the movie in her hand and shaking it.

"How nice, but you know you forgot one" Natsu said stepping closer to her.

"What you had FOUR!" Lucy yelled, staring at him awestruck. Just how dedicated could he get?

"Uh huh, you wanna know where it is?" Natsu asked, closing the gap between them.

"Do I really want to know?"

"Well considering its right above us I thought you might want to know" Natsu said.

"Ugh I can't believe you! Who buys four things of mistletoe?" Lucy said as she shook her hands at him.

"Apparently I do" Natsu said with a smirk.

"Apparently" Lucy said with a huff "You're so stupid" Lucy said before grapping the sides of Natsu's face and pulling him to her. Their lips crashed together and Natsu wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her close to him. Their lips moved together sloppy and wet with Lucy muttering 'stupid' and 'idiot' between breaths while Natsu just hummed against her lips in response. Pulling apart Lucy stared him in the eyes as the two just stood panting, waiting to see what the others move was going to be.

"So do you want to watch that movie or-"Lucy began before Natsu cut her off with a searing kiss.

"Nah" he said with a huff when they pulled apart "I think there's something else we should do."

"Oh" Lucy said watching him with lidded eyes "Why don't you show me what you'd rather do?"

With smile Natsu pressed his hot lips onto her neck before taking her down onto the bed behind them. Needless to say the mistletoe in the bedroom got to stay.


	42. A Laser Right Through The Heart

For once Lucy was relieved that she hadn't got stuck chaperoning the Valentines dance that her work held every year for the students. She had somehow got sucked in every year before and for once she was free! Free from horny teenagers, dry cookies that parents had bought at the grocery store and (in her opinion) the worst music this generation had to offer. But she wasn't exactly saying she was jumping for joy over where she was at the moment.

While most couples went with the route of going out for dinner at a nice restaurant or seeing a play or something that was romantic on Valentine's Day, her boyfriend claimed it was too cliché and had a much better plan in mind. And Lucy being the trusting person she is went along with it and left their date in the hands of Natsu. Not to say it was always a bad idea, he had taken her on numerous memorable dates, and then there were the….well weird ones that didn't always end well.

Natsu must have decided to opt out all the normal and classic options for a more unique one in his mind, that was what she had decided when they had arrived at the place he claimed would be the best Valentine's Day ever. This is why Lucy was currently pressed up against some plastic wall in the dark with Natsu breathing heavily beside her and with a laser gun in her hand. Not exactly her idea of a great date.

"Alright Lucy" Natsu said turning to her with one of the most serious looks on his face she had ever seen "We can take these guy's down with teamwork. I'll distract them and you take hit them from behind. Sound like a good game plan right?"

"Umm sure?" Lucy replied as she raised her eyebrow. She had never played nor never really had the desire to play laser tag in her life. But her she was doing it on Valentine's Day instead of out at some nice restaurant. Sure it was twenty times better than chaperoning a dance, but the fact was the teams they were playing against were twelve year olds didn't exactly make her scream romantic in anyway.

"Come on Lucy, you can get hit once and then you're done, you're out and I won't be able to win without you. This is all about teamwork and strategy" Natsu whispered as he peeked around the side of the wall. Apparently the coast was clear because he turned back around and asked her "You ready to make our first attack?"

"Uh I guess" Lucy said with a shrug, she hoped she knew what she was doing. Maybe she should've listened to Natsu more when he prattled off to her how to play.

"Okay, after I leave count to five and go the opposite direction of me."

"Got it" Lucy said watching as he gave her a thumbs up before disappearing behind the wall. Lucy sighed and counted to five before peeking out and seeing no one, she slowly crept out and awkwardly sneaked slashed jogged the opposite direction of Natsu.

She had no idea where exactly she was supposed to go but just figured if she walked in a semi-straight line then she'd find out where Natsu wanted her to be. She was creeping towards another plastic wall when she heard a noise that she could only describe as a bunch of freshmen boys who had just saw someone trip or something ridiculous. The only thing she could figure was that Natsu was there or at least nearby. He had said he was going to be the decoy.

Heading towards the source of the noise she peeked around a wall and saw three twelve year olds hiding behind a wall taking turns popping up and attempting to shoot Natsu. Who, at the moment, was dancing around and avoiding all their shots, making them pretty angry to say the least. Taking aim she did her best to align the laser gun with the kids back. Pulling the trigger she watched the red beam of light hit the kid directly in the back of his vest. In a second his vest light up in an annoying bright red color making him easily stand out in the dark.

The light illuminated his two friends shocked faces and gave her the perfect opportunity to shoot the other one in the back. The last of the group turned around with his gun drawled ready to shoot when Natsu took aim and hit him in the back.

Waving at her, she returned the wave and he ran over to her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the scene. "We gotta find somewhere else to stakeout for the time being. That bright red light is going to draw all the other players to that area" Natsu explained before pulling her behind another wall, taking a deep breathe turning to her he said "You did great Lucy! Man they didn't even see it coming and you thought you were going to be terrible. You're a natural."

"How sweet, but you were the one that said we had to be quiet" Lucy said shaking her head, though she did appreciate the praise. It was true that she had figured she would've been out within seconds of facing an opponent, even if Natsu had promised to protect her.

"Look at you already tellin' me the rules" Natsu said with a chuckle "Anyway there should be about three teams left besides us, so we can hope a few get knocked out by the distraction of the first team" he finished just as Lucy noticed a faint red light out of the corner of her eye. She turned around, expecting there to be someone pointing a gun in her face but saw no one.

"Looks like they did exactly what I thought they'd do" Natsu whispered with a grin spreading across his face as three more spots of red flashed in the dark room.

"Do you feel proud of outsmarting twelve year olds or something? I do hope you know you're more than half their age" Lucy said as she watched him rise slightly from his crouched position to look over the wall for anyone heading their way.

"Hey, all's fair in love and war" Natsu whispered with a shrug before crouching back down "There should be only four people left, there were only two other two player groups and one other three person group. We got this in the bag Lucy."

"So what's the plan then? Are we just going to wait for them to eliminate each other?" Lucy asked though she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"No way, that be too easy. We're going straight in" Natsu said as he turned to look around the wall.

"And by that you mean, what exactly?" Lucy asked with a shrug.

"We're going to go out onto the field and look for them. They're all probably spread out since they all probably lost people, so that means we go around and take down the last few people left" Natsu said with a grin "Don't worry we'll stick together, strength in numbers."

"Uh-huh" Lucy said as she watched Natsu creep around the side of the wall before motioning for her to following. The two of them stuck together this time, with Natsu watching in front and Lucy looking behind them. Darting her eyes around the darkly lit room, Lucy was waiting for someone to jump out at any second. Natsu stopped suddenly and Lucy almost bumped into him "Hey" she whispered "Warn me next time."

Natsu didn't respond, he just put a finger in front of his mouth like he was telling her to shush before pointing his gun towards a wall. Lucy raised her brow but after a few seconds she could hear the distinct sound of whispering. Looking up at Natsu he nodded at her and she nodded back.

The two snuck towards the wall and once they had reached it they each took a side and ran around to see two kids huddled behind the wall. The two barely had time to react before Natsu shot one in the chest and Lucy following in suit.

The kids both let out a loud noise of annoyance as they both yelled "frick" as Lucy and Natsu ran off. "You know" Lucy panted as she looked around for any possible threats "I feel kinda bad taking out these kids."

"Just image that their some of your students" Natsu said right before a kid came running at them screaming. Natsu easily shot him in the vest before he could even take a shot. "Only one left!"

"I see" Lucy said sidestepping the angry kid "You use this to get out all your anger, huh?"

"Maybe" Natsu said with a shrug "It's fun, that's the reason I like it."

"I take it that's also the reason you choose this as a date?" Lucy said as she waited for the last kid to appear from behind one of the many walls.

"What?" Natsu asked "You're not having fun?"

"Well I wouldn't say that" Lucy said as she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Quickly jumping behind a wall she watched as a red laser whizzed by her.

Natsu quickly stopped, turning around he asked "Are you okay?"

"Yeah" Lucy replied as she aimed her gun towards where the laser had come from with Natsu following her in suit quickly. She heard him chuckle to himself and whisper under his breath "We got this."

The two creeped towards the wall and had to move a few times to dodge the occasionally laser that was shot their way but soon they were right in front of the wall. They turned to each other and nodded their heads at each other. Bending over the side they both shot at a very surprised kid. It looked like he hadn't expected them to lean over the wall. His vest lit up a bright red and after a few seconds of him swearing loudly the lights turned back on.

"Woohoo!" Natsu said pumping his fist in the air and throwing his arm around Lucy "We won."

Lucy couldn't help the smile on her face, she did feel kinda bad about the fact that they had only been up against kids but she couldn't deny that it felt nice to win. "Yes Natsu we were able to defeat all these kids in about twenty minutes, I do hope you have something else planned for tonight" Lucy said as she watched Natsu jump out and down while pumping his fists.

Natsu stopped his jumping and turned to her while saying "Of course I have something else planned, did you think this was the only thing I had planned or something?"

"Maybe" Lucy replied suddenly feeling kind of silly for thinking Natsu had only had laser tag planned for Valentine's Day.

"Well we're going out to eat of course; I mean I'm starving, so I'm guessing you're hungry as well" Natsu said as he motioned for her to follow him as he headed towards the exit.

"Do you have an exact place of where were going to eat or are you stopping at the first place you see that sells food?" Lucy asked as she followed him out of the room. They placed their guns and vests in tubs by the exit and headed towards the exit of the building.

"Nah, I kinda have something planned" Natsu said as he opened the door, letting her out first before following.

"Like reservations?" she asked.

"No, most places were already full when I called so I went with a better idea" Natsu said as he hit the button on his keys to unlock the car.

"Where exactly are you taking me?" Lucy asked as she got into the car, her brows knitted together as she tried to think of where Natsu might be taking her.

"You'll see~" Natsu chimed as he turned on the car "It's a surprise."

"Well no I'm worried" Lucy said with a smile as she watched Natsu's smile grow bigger. She swears, sometimes she has no idea what he had planned. But knowing Natsu, it would be fine.


	43. Memory Lane

The car ride was what Natsu had thought would be the worst part of this weekend trip, but when Lucy and he arrived at her father's vacant mansion did he realize the task of cleaning it out was going to be much harder than he had previously thought. Lucy pulled the keys out from her purse and inserted it into the lock while Natsu stared up, dumbstruck, at just how big the place was up close. Sighing Lucy hesitated for a second, she had never really expected to come back to this house, when she had left it hadn't be her home for years. But yet here she was back again, but not like she had much of a choice.

Pushing aside her thoughts she turned the key and the lock clicked open. Pushing the door open she stared into the dim room that still looked as spotless as it had did when she left. Was someone cleaning this place? Taking a hesitant step in she could fell Natsu's eyes move to her, he must have gotten over just how large the house was and was now worrying about her. Her eyes moved around the room, everything exactly how she remembered it. The two staircases spiraling up to the second floor, the single family portrait that her father had kept and a table that had once held her father's briefcase and other random items.

She felt weight of Natsu's arm drape around her shoulders and his voice filling the room "Well Lucy it looks like we got a whole heck of a lot of rooms to clean out, and well since you know this place I figured you could tell me where we're going to start. But tell me if you don't think you can do something, you're father's death wasn't even a year ago and I know how you felt about this place so I understand if you need me to do something for you."

"It's fine Natsu" Lucy said with a sigh "I can do this; it's just that…this place brings back a lot of memories."

"Alright, just tell me if you need help with anything" Natsu said moving his arm off her shoulders and placing his hand on her shoulder for a few seconds, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"I need your help with boxing everything up that's in this house" Lucy said turning around and looking for the light switch.

"I figured" Natsu said with a chuckle as Lucy flipped the lights on "So where do we began?"

"I guess the downstairs, if I remember correctly there are around fifteen rooms on the first floor and twenty on the second" Lucy said as she tried to remember the layout of the house. Natsu's jaw practically hit the floor when he heard her finish her sentence.

"Wha-how-why is there so many rooms?!" Natsu questioned his head tilted and eyes wide "No one needs that many rooms surely."

"Of course my father never needed that many rooms, but you were the one who seemed awestruck by just how big the house was. You should've figured that it would've been huge on the inside as well. I'm pretty sure half the rooms upstairs don't even have anything in them. Most of them was just where my dad's workers lived and the rest were either his room or mine, with the occasional study I guess" Lucy said as she counted off one her fingers the amount of rooms she figured would actually have furniture upstairs "So there is probably only about six rooms we need to do upstairs. But I know for a fact all fifteen rooms downstairs have stuff in them."

"I can already feel the enjoyment I'm going to have this weekend, I'm sure it'll be one for the books" Natsu said swinging his arm sarcastically as he followed Lucy into the kitchen where what looked about hundreds of boxes sat in the floor.

"Oh be quiet" Lucy said playfully slapping him on the chest "It could be worst, at least they were nice enough to get us boxes. Think of it as a time to bond."

"So what are you turning this into one of those awkward couple trips where they do like team building activities and stuff together?" Natsu asked his eyebrow raised and a sly twinkle in his eye.

"Shut up" Lucy said before tossing a box at his face "You get to do the kitchen by yourself then. Just look thought the cabinets for anything that someone left behind. Once you're done with that you can come help me in the dining room."

"You got it boss" Natsu said giving her a salute as she rolled her eyes at him. The two went their separate ways and Natsu began the tedious task of looking through every cabinet in the kitchen. By the end of it he had filled about three boxes full of assorted kitchen supplies and was began to feel the itching feeling of boredom scratching at his brain. "You're doing this for Lucy so just suck it up" Natsu muttered as he walked towards the room Lucy had told him she would be in, grabbing a few boxes on his way.

Popping his head into the room next to the kitchen he saw Lucy carefully placing plates into a box. "Yo Lucy, you need some help?"

"Do you even need to ask that?" Lucy asked her brow raised, lips pursed.

"Yeah I guess I don't. So what do you need me to do?" Natsu asked placing the boxes on the floor close to her and crossed his arms across the top of the one of the chairs.

"Well you could take the chairs and the table into the entrance way, if you can you should take them outside though. I called in a moving truck and one of my friends is going to drive it up here for us" Lucy said as she placed the last plate into the box before closing it up. Ripping off a piece of tape from the roll she placed it across the top to secure the flaps.

"So we're getting some extra help?" Natsu asked taking his arms off the chair.

"Not really he said that he wouldn't be here until he got off work which means he won't be here until around five. But he said he'd help load the furniture into the back of the truck so I guess you will be getting some help" Lucy said as she placed the loaded box next to the others. Looking over the room she added "I don't think there should be anything left in here to pack up so I guess I'll help you with the table and chairs."

"Alright, why don't we take the table out first? You take one side and I'll take the other" Natsu suggested as he gestured towards the table.

"I don't see why not" Lucy said as she walked towards the table. Placing her hands on the table she remembered the few dinners her parents and her had had at this table together. They had practically become non-existent after her mother's death.

"Okay then" Natsu said placing his hands under the table before looking up at Lucy "You ready?"

"Yep" she replied placing her hands around the legs of the table.

"Okay, one" Natsu said tightening his grip "two" Lucy tensed ready to pick it up "three" the two were able to successfully lift it up and headed out towards the door. Natsu, who was the one that had to walk backwards, walked into the wall about three times and every single doorway he had to go through to get outside. Placing it down in the grass once they had been able to get outside and done the steps, Lucy let out a sigh before saying "Time for the chairs."

"You sure it'll be fine for it to sit outside?" Natsu asked, looking up at the cloudy and overcast skies.

"Yeah, it's not supposed to rain and if someone really wants to steal it then let them. I have no real use for most of the stuff that's in the house. I'll probably try to sell it or something" Lucy said as she headed up the steps inside with Natsu on her heels. Natsu didn't really push her into saying anything. He knew her past had always been a bit of a touchy subject and besides, he had things in his past he really didn't want to talk about. So sometimes he just let her remember in peace.

The two brought the chairs out into the yard in semi silence with Natsu cracking jokes every once in a while and Lucy telling him how ridiculous he was. The rest of the day was similar. They went through the numerous sitting rooms and other rooms that looked like they had never even been lived in, just used for decoration. Lucy had told him a few stories from when she was younger but they all seemed to involve her mother, but it's not like her father had ever won a father of the year award.

"So" Natsu said as he dragged another dusty and stiff chair outside "I take it you didn't spend a lot of time downstairs when you lived here, huh?"

"What do you mean by that?" Lucy asked as she placed a table down.

"Well pretty much every room downstairs that we've cleaned has pretty much looked like no ever really used it" Natsu said "I mean I'm pretty sure this chair has like a fifteen year layer of dust on it."

"Well you're probably right; most of these rooms I only know about are because I would hide from all the parties my dad would throw for his business partners. I mainly stayed in two rooms in the house. Mine and the library" Lucy said as she checked her phone. "It's almost five and we've pretty much cleaned out all the rooms downstairs except for the bathrooms but there was pretty much nothing in them anyway."

"So your friend's going to be showing up soon?" Natsu asked as shielded his eyes from the setting sun and looked to see if he could see a truck in the distance.

"Yeah, well at least he should be. But who knows with him" Lucy said as shrugged "He could be late or he could be on time. But you'll be happy to know that after this we won't have any other rooms to clean out tonight."

"Really?" Natsu asked hopefully that the rest of the night would be like a normal night at home, with them eating dinner and just lazing around on the couch, though they had gotten rid of all of those downstairs.

"Yep, all we'll have to do before we can eat is stack all the boxes in the front room" Lucy said as ran her fingers through her hair and checked her phone again.

"I thought you meant we'd be done" Natsu whined before letting out a huff and turned to look for this truck her friend was supposed to be bringing.

"I said we we're done with clearing out all the furniture" Lucy said shaking her head "We still need to move all the boxes the front after that we can order take out and do whatever we please, which I hope will be sleep."

"Hey speaking of sleep, I know this might sound ridiculous but-"Natsu began before he was cut off by Lucy pointing behind him.

"He's here! Finally, I thought I was going to have to call him" Lucy exclaimed as Natsu turned around to see a truck pulling into the grass by them.

"So who is this Loke guy again?" Natsu asked as he watched a guy get out of the truck with a full suit on. That doesn't exactly scream 'im going to help haul furniture into the back of a truck' to Natsu but he figured that if Lucy was friends with him then he could trust him.

"Loke is an old friend from school" Lucy said as he waved at the man and he waved back "He's a bit of a flirt but he should've toned down after all these years."

"I'm still keeping an eye on him" Natsu muttered as he followed Lucy over towards him.

"Don't start getting jealous now" Lucy said with a chuckle "Loke's harmless."

"Lucy my dear" Loke said taking her hand "It's been too long."

"I've missed you to Loke" Lucy said as she rolled her eyes at his theatrics. Taking her hand out of his she turned towards Natsu and said "Loke this Natsu, I've told you about him."

"Ah yes" Loke said giving Natsu a slight bow "It's nice to meet someone Lucy loves so dearly. Now then, don't we have some furniture to move? I'm sure we can catch up while doing that Lucy."

"You want to get home that bad or something?" Lucy teased as she thought about how he had recently gotten engaged.

"Well it be no fun loading furniture in the dark" Loke said with his normal smile that she swears she hasn't seen in years.

"Well then we better get on it then if you're scared of the dark" Natsu said with a smirk as he picked up chair.

"I was just thinking of Lucy" Loke said before going over and picking up two chairs. Lucy was beginning to think that it was going to be a long evening.

The packing of the furniture actually went really well and, surprisingly, quick. Except for the few times Natsu and Loke quarreled it was fine. By the time they had put everything into the back of the truck the sun had long set and stars dotted the sky.

"Well we'll see you tomorrow" Lucy said as she waved goodbye to Loke, elbowing Natsu in the sides to tell him to wave as well. Which he did, but with a terribly obvious forced grin. Once Loke had left Lucy turned to him and said "Sometimes you're so childish."

"What do you mean? He was the same!" Natsu pouted as Lucy patted him on the shoulder.

"Try to make friends with some of my old friends. Even if your frenemies or whatever" Lucy said with a sigh before changing topics "Now then, I'm picking what we order tonight."

"I thought we were picking it out together" Natsu said as he followed Lucy inside.

"Nah, I'm the one that knows the good places around here. Anyway how does Thai sound?" Lucy asked as she whipped out her phone.

"Good I guess, but don't you need a phone book or something?" Natsu said as he began to head into the kitchen to see if he had skipped over one or packed one up.

"Nah, I still have the number memorized. Man I use to call in like four times a week my senior year in high school" Lucy said with a nostalgic look on her face. So Thai was ordered and spent the time waiting for it to arrive by moving all the boxes. The two ended up doing nothing else that night eating the large amount of takeout they had gotten and watching some old episodes of Criminal Minds that Lucy had downloaded on her laptop.

"You ready to get some sleep?" Lucy asked out loud after they'd finished fourth episode "Because even if you say no I'm going to sleep."

"I guess, I mean you're probably going to wake me up at six or something to finish everything"  
Natsu said as he adjusted his position against the wall he was currently sitting against.

"So it's decided then" Lucy said as she closed her laptop. Standing up she stretched before turning around and looking down at Natsu "Come on then." Holding out her hand, he took it before standing up.

"Lead the way" Natsu said "So where exactly are we going to be sleeping?" he asked as they headed up the staircase.

"My old room should still have my bed in it unless my dad cleaned it all out. So probably in there" Lucy said. Once they reached the top of the stairs she dragged him down the long hallway before they came to a stop outside a simple white door.

Lucy pushed it open the door and flipped on the lights to reveal a room that looked like an eight year old had designed it "Lucy can I be honest with you?" Natsu said as they walked into the room.

"Sure" Lucy said as she looked around her room, a feeling of disgust rising. She really truly had hated her bedroom and she had forgotten just how much.

"It looks like an eight year old picked everything out" Natsu said as he stared at all the pink and frills that seemed to take over the room. The only thing that seemed even related to Lucy was the bookcase in the room.

"I agree" Lucy said before plopping down on the bed "But it's the only option you have for sleep. So you either sleep here or out in the bare downstairs."

"I wasn't complaining. A bed's a bed even if it looks like it belongs to an eight year old."

"Okay now I think your just messing with me! It's not that bad, right?"

"No I think it is that bad."

"Shut up!"


	44. It Needs More Onions

Not much had happened on the last day of cleaning out the house. Just the normal things that come with moving, cleaning out all the furniture and putting stuff into boxes. But one thing interesting that came from all this cleaning, moving and boxing was Lucy finding her mother's old recipes. She had been so excited to have found them after they had practically vanished after her mother's death. Now she had them in her procession and could relive all her old memories of learning how to cook them with her mother.

Natsu hadn't thought much of it other than seeing how happy it had made her when she had discovered them in a desk in the library. But the first thing Lucy did when they arrived back home was take out one of her favorite recipes, without telling Natsu of course, it was going to be a surprise, wrote a list of everything she needed and then headed off to the grocery store.

Natsu didn't really complain either when she banned him from entering the kitchen later that day so he wouldn't ruin the 'surprise'. Natsu figured about twenty minutes later that she was cooking some kind of pasta dish due to the tomato smell that was coming from the kitchen. But he could always be wrong; she could be making some crazy fancy dish that he wouldn't even be able to pronounce the name of.

So he simply sat on the couch and played around with Happy until he was interrupted when his phone rang. Looking at who was calling he considered just setting it back down and ignoring them. But he knew that they'd just hunt him down when he went back to work tomorrow anyway so he picked up.

"Yo flame brain, how was your weekend?" came the unusually cheerful voice of his brother from the other side of the phone.

"Hey Gajeel, what with the chipper attitude? Did you make some child cry today or something? Or, no wait, let me guess, you found another cat! If so then your one cat closer to your goal as the local crazy cat man" Natsu said with a laugh as he waited for Gajeel's usual explosive retort.

"Haha, you're so funny" Gajeel replied dryly before continuing "Anyway I called you to talk to you about something serious."

"Oh really? You're going to be serious?"

"Oh shut yer trap" Gajeel yelled at him over the phone.

"Okay I'm shutting it" Natsu said as he sunk into the couch. If this was going to be anything like Gajeel's last serious talk it was going to be long and he wouldn't listen to whatever Natsu had to say for the first half and hour after he had told him his problem.

"Good keep it that way. Anyway so I've been thinking about some really serious….stuff recently and I don't know what I should do."

"Uh, so you came to me?" Natsu asked as he switched the phone to his other hand.

"Yeah cause I mean even if it did take you years to finally ask out Lucy, your better at that kind of stuff then me."

"So this is about Levy then?"

"Yeah I've been thinking about taking the next step in our relationship with her-"

"You're finally going to move in together?! Oh my I must tell everyone!"

"You promised to be quiet remember?! And besides, you know we've lived together for over a year now anyway! So lately I've been thinking about, I don't know, taking the next step in our relationship. And then I had to think about what that would be and so I came to the conclusion that the next step would be….well to um ask her to marry me…" Gajeel said slowly losing all confidence he had, anything to do with romance had that kind of effect on him.

"So you want to ask Levy to marry you right?" Natsu said with a raised eyebrow "I don't see why you'd worry about it. She'll definitely say yes, and I'm going to guess that she's probably been waiting for you to pop the question since your three year anniversary. So I say go for it before she gets tired of waiting and asks you herself. And if she does I'll never let you live it down that Levy was the one who had to take action to get your asses together and then the one to give you a ring."

"Shut up will ya" Gajeel said before pausing and then asking "You think she'll say yes?"

"For sure, just don't do something to crazy for the proposal because I know how you are. Just get a ring and wait for the right time. It's not like you need to put too much thought into it" Natsu said with a shrug.

"But that's the point!" Gajeel exclaimed "You're supposed to make it something memorable!"

"Okay fine then go all over the top for all I care" Natsu said "It's not like I'm the one purposing."

"I bet you've thought about it though" Gajeel said, the teasing tone obvious.

"Oh come on, Lucy and me have only been dating for seven months now, there's no way I'd be thinking about that already" Natsu said was he swatted Happy's paw away from the phone. He had seemed to develop this habit of knocking everyone's phone out of their hands, especially when they were talking to someone for some reason.

"Sure whatever you say" Gajeel said with a cackle.

"I'm telling the truth" Natsu said with a sigh as he waited for Gajeel to tell him what he was going to do so he could end this conversation that was slowly turning to him for some reason.

"Uh huh, anyway I guess I'll do it then. I'm going to ask Levy to marry me."

"Congrats, I sure hope I'm right."

"You better be" Gajeel said before hanging up abruptly.

"Not even a goodbye, how rude" Natsu muttered as Happy slapped his paw onto Natsu's phone sending in onto his lap. Looking over at Happy, Natsu just shook his head before picking his phone back up and asking him "Do you not like me talking on the phone or something? If so please tell me why." Happy simply meowed back at him before jumping off the couch and heading into the kitchen, probably to mooch for some food.

Natsu considered following Happy to do the same but figured all he'd get is a kick from Lucy and then probably wouldn't even be allowed to eat whatever Lucy had been so intent on making. Resting his head on the couch Natsu considered breaking into his not so secret stash of chips he had when Lucy's face appeared over top of his.

"Are you ready to eat the best meal of your life?" Lucy asked with a wide smile.

"Well it is rude to refuse after you spent so much time working on it" Natsu said smiling back at her.

"Don't lie, I could practically hear your stomach from the kitchen" Lucy said before telling him "Come on and get up. I want to see your face when you try it. I swear it's going to blow your mind how great it'll taste!"

"Okay then, I trust you" Natsu said getting up and following her into the kitchen where he saw two plates sitting on the table.

"So what is it exactly?" Natsu asked curiously as he studied the dish before sitting down.

"Well I mean it's pretty much what it looks like, but if you want to know my mother just called it sausage, peppers and onions" Lucy said as she sat down in her chair.

"What's the pasta doing then?" Natsu asked as he picked up the fork. He was never one to turn down food; he was going to eat it even if it did turn out bad. Though that seemed unlikely since Lucy seemed to make any food she touches delicious.

"It's an Italian dish" Lucy said with a shrug "And my mother always made it with pasta."

"Alright then, time to dig in" Natsu said as he picked up forkful of food and shoved in it his mouth. Lucy watched his face with pursed lips as she waited for his response.

"It's great" he said as he picked up another forkful.

"But…" Lucy said with a raised eyebrow.

"But what?" Natsu asked shoving in another forkful.

"Something in your voice is saying it's great but there's something you think is wrong" Lucy said "So what is it, I can take criticism I get it if you don't like something."

"No, no it's great I love it" Natsu said waving his hand at her.

"You're lying" Lucy said crossing her arms "What's wrong with it?!"

"Nothing is wrong with it" Natsu said exasperated.

"Natsu, tell me!" Lucy demanded.

"Fine I just think it could use more onions that's all" Natsu said waiting for the wrath that would probably come.

"Onions" Lucy said absentmindedly "More onions."

"Yeah I just think it could use more onions, but it's great like this too" Natsu said, glad Lucy didn't seem to be reacting too badly to him saying something about her mother's measurement of onions or whatever.

"That recipe has been cooked the same way for over the past three generations on my mother's side, it hasn't been altered in the slightest in all those and your telling me it needs more onions?!" Lucy said her voice getting higher and higher.

"Yeah" Natsu said shrinking down in his chair.

"This recipe has been cooked the same way in my family for generations what do you mean by it needs more onions, **nO IT DOES NOT NEED MORE ONIONS!**" Lucy yelled as she pulled at her hair.

"Okay, okay it doesn't need more onions; I'm just crazy you know. I just love me some onions, yep" Natsu said shaking his hand before taking more of the food and eating it while he said with a full mouth "Fee ish good!"

Lucy buried her face in her hands and just sat there while Natsu watched waiting for her response. Eventually she let out a loud sigh before looking up and began to eat her food. Natsu by now had finished all of his but was a little worried to say anything. If he had known Lucy would've reacted like that he wouldn't have said anything at all. After a while of sitting in silence Lucy was the first to talk.

"Sorry about overacting and yelling at you" she said while staring down at her plate.

"It's fine-"Natsu said before Lucy cut him off before he could finish.

"No I overacted and I'm sorry. I probably sounded crazy, it's just I can remember watching my mother making then recipe and then her teaching it to me and….well really it's no excuse for how I reacted. It's just there's not much left in my life that really reminds me of my mother, pictures just show what she looked like but not the memories I made with her" Lucy said with a sigh.

"Well I think that you yelling at me about thinking there needed to be more onions was pretty memorable" Natsu said jokingly while Lucy felt her face heat up with embarrassment.

"Yeah I guess it was, it was ridiculous but I guess I'll remember it whenever I make it" Lucy said while she shook her head lightly.

"Well I think I'm going to make you dinner tomorrow" Natsu declared as he pushed his plate off to the side.

"Oh? I do hope you don't set anything on fire" Lucy said.

"Nah, it'll be the chili my dad used to make" Natsu said smiling fondly as he remembered always begging Igneel to teach him how to make it.

"Really? What did he call it, I'm scared to ask?" Lucy asked because knowing Natsu's spice resistant's it would have the hottest peppers in it and he wouldn't even blink.

"He used to call it dragon chili" Natsu said "But I think it was only because I liked dragons when I was a kid" he quickly added when he saw Lucy pale a bit.

"Well I'll eat it" Lucy said.

"Sure and then you can tell me that it needs more hot sauce or something" Natsu said cheerfully.

"I don't think I'll say that."

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the unexpected hiatus I ended up getting sick a few days before the holidays and then during the holidays I traveled to see family which meant I was away from my computer. So to make up I'm posting a new chapter today and Monday.


	45. Why Do You Need Chloroform At 2am?

"You know, you really should go see someone about your sleep talking" Lucy said one morning, drawing Natsu's attention from the cartoon on the TV to her.

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked through a mouthful of cereal.

Lucy cringed a little at the display as she replied "You woke me up a 2 in the morning."

"Really?" Natsu asked as he rested his spoon on the edge of his bowl "I don't remember doing that."

"Obviously" Lucy said with a sigh as she looked down at the soggy bowl of cereal that was sitting in her lap "Why exactly do you need chloroform for at 2am?"

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked as he cocked his head slightly at her question.

"That's what you were saying last night, well more like asking. You just kept repeating 'I need so chloroform' or 'give me some damn chloroform', my personal favorite was when you said 'it's going to escape and brutally murder both of us unless you get me the fucking chloroform' What kind of dream were you having last night?" Lucy asked as Natsu just stared at her with wide eyes.

"Really? I said stuff like that? Well I was having this dream where we were like bounty hunters and we had this weird animal in the cage. And it was like eating through the cage or somethin' but that's all I remember" Natsu said with a shrug before turning back to his cereal and the cartoons.

Lucy just watched him with bafflement before giving up and started to eat her soggy coco puffs while watching whatever cartoon Natsu had found on at 8 in the morning. It was quiet like this for a while with the only sounds filling the room was the TV and the sound of spoons clinking against bowls. It was a normal Sunday with the two of them lounging on the couch facing each other with their legs tangled under the blankets they were sharing and cartoons on the TV.

"Imagine if you sleepwalked too?" Lucy asked suddenly, the thought jumping to her mind.

"Man I think it be even worse. Imagine me finding a way out of the apartment and like out into the streets. I'd probably just walk around, falling into trash cans and showing up at the quick mart down the street" Natsu said with a chuckle.

"What if you stole food and you tried to pay the attendant but you had no money but you thought you paid and then you'd just walk out!"

"The police would put out a bulletin for a sleep walking pink haired man in the possession of an armful of chips. If found please wake him up before his girlfriend finds him and beats him up for you" Natsu said laughing while he moved his arms around enthusiastically.

"What if you started knocking on the neighbors doors, oh good that would probably end up getting us kicked out" Lucy said, shaking with laughter "What if you just showed up at their door at 2 in the morning and when the open the door you ask them for chloroform."

"Man I sure hope I don't knock on the new neighbors' door and ask that" Natsu said shaking his head.

"Hmmm, you mean the Millers?" Lucy asked pausing in her laughter.

"Are they the ones that just moved across the hall from us?" Natsu asked back.

"Yeah."

"Yep them, I don't want to ask them that for sure" Natsu said.

"What do you have against them? You've only seen them like what, once?" Lucy asked as she shifted her position to put her empty bowl on the floor.

"Yeah but I mean I'm pretty sure" Natsu said before pausing and looking around before turning back to her and whispering "they're serial killers."

Lucy stared at Natsu for a few seconds with a confused look before saying "Technically you're a cereal killer since you just ate all that cereal."

"Don't joke about stuff like that Lucy!" Natsu exclaimed before looking around again.

"Do you think they have this placed bugged or something?" Lucy asked as she crossed her arms and leaning against the armrest of the sofa.

"They could have. I mean if they're serial killers they might want to know if any of us figure it out" Natsu said while shaking his hands at her.

"Uh huh" Lucy said with a raised eyebrow "And how would they have done that since, well you know, they haven't even been in our apartment."

"Lucy" Natsu said seriously "If they can kill people I'm pretty sure they can break into someone's apartment."

"And where are you getting these assumptions that are neighbors are killing people?"

"They just…look like they do."

"So you're basing your entire assumption on their looks, Natsu you probably look like some punk or druggie with your pink hair" Lucy said with exasperation.

"It's not my fault I have weird genetics" Natsu grumbled before saying "It's not just that, they come back at weird hours of the night!"

"One of them works in the ER and the other volunteers as a firefighter" Lucy said with a sigh "I'm sure that having those kind of jobs call for you having weird work hours."

"Okay but I swear I've seen them buy like excessive qualities of bleach and they seem to buy new knives like every other month!" Natsu said, clearly in some state of distress.

"So people have their quirks" Lucy said with a shrug.

"Buying ten quarts of bleach and new knives every month is a quirk?" Natsu asked doubtfully.

"Sure maybe their clean freaks or something, and maybe they still haven't bought enough knives yet" Lucy suggested "Besides I'm sure they don't judge us when we buy four boxes of kid's cereal or when you go out and buy excessive amounts of mistletoe."

"Buying kid's cereal isn't weird" Natsu said.

"It might be when two full grown adults are buying it for themselves" Lucy replied.

"I don't see your point."

"My point is that you can't call our neighbors serial killers because of a few weird things" Lucy said shaking her head "I swear, where do you get these ideas?"

"Okay but listen to this, one time Happy and me were outside at like four in the morning-"

"Why did you take Happy out in four in the morning?" Lucy butted in.

"Because he wanted to" Natsu said simply before continuing "So Happy and I were outside and I saw the two of them carrying someone into their apartment!"

"And? That doesn't mean their killing people" Lucy said "Maybe they were out with friends and one of them got too drunk so they drove them back with them and let then crash at their place till they could go get their car."

"But why would it take two of them? Don't they say people get heavier when they die or something?" Natsu asked, his eyebrows raised.

"First off I have no idea if that…weird fact of yours is true and secondly the person might have been too heavy for one of them so the other helped them. Or maybe they couldn't fit themselves and the other person through the door so they carried him in" Lucy said waving her hands about as she talked.

"Fine, don't see the obvious fact that our neighbors are most likely serial killers" Natsu said, crossing his arms with an 'hmp'.

"Natsu stop it! They're nice people" Lucy said with a sigh.

"And how would you know that for sure? You can't just talk to someone once and decide whether their nice or not" Natsu argued.

"Oh my god Natsu! Don't be so childish" Lucy said placing her head in her hands.

"I'm just saying that it makes sense!"

"Don't you think it would be on the news or something, you know if their finding a bunch of dead people, or hell a bunch of missing people, they'd put it on the news!" Lucy exclaimed as she threw her hands in the air. This was almost as bad as the time he was convinced Juvia was made of water.

"Maybe they kill people that live by themselves or something or people who work at home! And maybe they use all that bleach to dispose of them or something!" Natsu said.

"Natsu please" Lucy said, rubbing her temples "This is not the kind of argument I want to start at nine in the morning!"

"Fine" Natsu grumbled "I'm just saying that if I asked them if they have chloroform they probably would." Thankfully peace soon returned to the apartment and Happy, who had been awoken by the tiff, appeared and jumped up onto the couch to harass his owners since they had woken him up so that meant they had obviously wanted to spend time with him. But silence never seemed to stay for too long.

"Okay but like hear me out, don't you think everything I've told you is a little suspicious" Natsu said with a pleading smile.

"No, because I don't look for reasons for my neighbors to be serial killers" Lucy said running her fingers through her hair "I also don't mistake normal things and quirks as a big sign that screams 'murder' unlike someone apparently."

"I'm just saying that it makes sense" Natsu said with a shrug.

"It makes no sense at all!"

"Fine" Natsu said "Believe that they're perfectly normal people who don't murder people in their free time."

"Gladly" Lucy huffed. This was starting to into another one of his 'Juvia is water' theories.

"Okay but what about Miss. Luther than?" Natsu asked suddenly.

"What about her?" Lucy asked, confused of the sudden turn to the oldest resident in the building.

"Don't you think she has a serial killer vibe to her?" Natsu asked.

"Wha- No of course not! She's like eighty years old!" Lucy shrieked.

"I'm not saying she's a serial killer right now but maybe when she was younger. She did tell us all of the stories of her five husbands and how they all died 'sudden and accidental' deaths!"

"Which all made perfect, logical sense!" Lucy said "Are you set on us having a neighbor that is or was a serial killer?"

"I don't know this place just has that vibe" Natsu said leaning towards her.

"What kind of vibe does it give you to make you think that?!" Lucy asked slowly losing all hopes of winning this fight.

"A serial killer one."

"That's it; you're not allowed to watch crime show anymore!"


	46. Paint Swatches

It had rained a surprising amount that August which had left Lucy and Natsu cramped up inside their apartment. This amount of time stuck in their apartment led both of them (though it was mainly Lucy) to two conclusions. One, their ceiling had a leak in it, and two, Lucy really couldn't stand the color of the walls.

So for the majority of the month they were stuck inside trying to find different ways to entertain themselves, while making sure they occasionally checked the bucket under the leak to make sure it hadn't gotten too full. Along with Lucy's occasionally comment about how much she hated the 'spinach green' walls in their apartment and the minute there was a day when it wasn't a monsoon outside they would go to the hardware store and look for some paint made the days feel even longer.

The two were currently playing Uno, one of the numerous card games they had bought and learned to play during their lock-up, and were listening to the steady plink of water dropping into the bucket.

"One of us really has to tell the landlord that we have a leak" Lucy said absentmindedly as laid down a red card.

"Well the rain should be over soon" Natsu muttered as he laid another red one down overtop of hers. The precarious stack getting slowly higher, while the draw stack had slowly withered away to only a handful of cards.

"Yeah" Lucy said as she laid down her next card, shuffling her three cards she continued "But what happens when it rains again? One of us has to go deal with her."

"Well she likes you better" Natsu said as he threw down another card before smirking, he had only two cards left to Lucy's three. He would finally break her twenty five in a row win streak.

"That doesn't mean I want to talk to her" Lucy said as laid down her card, glancing over to Natsu's deck in his hands "Why can't you do it! I had to talk to her last time when the plumbing wasn't working."

"Uno" Natsu said as he threw down another card, leaving him with only one, victory was in sight "But she hates me to the point that if I told her that the ceiling was leaking she'd probably tell me that it wasn't her problem. But if it's you she'll at least promise to call someone about it."

"I don't know" Lucy said as she looked at her cards before picking one "But it's not like I can take anymore of listening to that constant dripping, Uno" Placing her card down she smiled when she heard Natsu's intake of breathe.

"You're a monster" Natsu said as he stared down at the plus 4 card.

"I know I am" Lucy said with a smile "And I think that I want the color to be green."

"Can we just say that you won or something and skip this part" Natsu said as he looked down at the five cards in his hands.

"Nope" Lucy said "Place down your next card."

"Fine" Natsu said as he slapped a random card down onto the stack and watched as Lucy triumphantly laid down her last card.

"I win" Lucy said with a wide smile "And I think that the loser has to go tell our landlady that our ceiling has a leak in it.

"Ugh fine" Natsu said throwing down his cards "You win; I'll go talk to her tomorrow or something. We both know she's never here on the weekends."

"Great" Lucy said as she stretched her arms above her head "We've got one thing out of the way." Bringing her arms back down to her lap Lucy said "We need to get out of here."

"What?" Natsu said, looking up at her from the cards he had been arranging.

Flopping back against the couch Lucy exclaimed "I can't take it anymore! Sitting inside and doing nothing, I'm going crazy! I mean, heck, you didn't flip the table or something when I won that last game so you're apparently submitting to cabin fever too!"

"But we're not in a cabin Lucy, and I'm pretty sure I'm not sick" Natsu said as he stared at her confused.

"It's a metaphor that pretty much means we're going crazy from staying indoors so much!"

"So what do you want to do about this?" Natsu asked as he shoved the Uno cards into their box since it was looking like they weren't going to be playing them anymore.

"We're going out" Lucy said, springing up from the couch.

"Were exactly?" Natsu asked, cocking his head slightly.

"To the hardware store, I can't stand looking at this color any longer! I'm thinking something softer or brighter, something happy" Lucy said as cupped her chin in thought.

"Are you sure you want to get started with that kind of project" Natsu said as he stood up, scratching his stomach as he watched her stare at the wall "I mean the new school year is starting in what, like ten days? Do you really want to spend the rest of our break painting the apartment?"

"Well we've already spent most of it lounging around this month. So I don't see the harm in being a little bit productive the week before we go back" Lucy said with a nod.

"Fine, I guess it's not like I had anything planned" Natsu said with a sigh "I'll get the keys."

Lucy had been excited when they had first started off, Natsu was going along with her plan with little complaint and she was finally going to get rid of that hideous color that she had despised since she had moved in. And it had been going smoothly until they were only a few minutes away from the hardware store when one Lucy's least favorite songs came on the radio. She absolutely loathed this song, and Natsu knew this, so he had taken it upon himself to learn the entire song down to a tee.

"Don't you dare" Lucy said whipping her head towards him when the first notes came on. All Natsu did was wiggle his eyebrows at her before letting loose.

"MY MILKSHAKE BRINGS ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD AND THEY'RE LIKE, IT'S BETTER THAN YOURS!"

"Natsu no, please don't" Lucy yelled overtop of his horrible off pitch singing.

"DAMN RIGHT, IT'S BETTER THAN YOURS!"

"Natsuuuuu!"

"I COULD TEACH YOU BUT I HAVE TO CHARGE!"

"Natsu, oh my god!" Lucy shrieked as she reached over and twisted the volume down to zero.

Natsu stopped and looked over at her before saying "I hope you know that won't stop me."

"Please don't do this" Lucy pleaded "We're only like two minutes away from the store."

"Nope" Natsu said before cranking up the volume even louder this time before continuing from where he left off.

"Ugh" Lucy said before dropping her head into her hands "Please just kill me know, or even better just make me deaf." But she was thankfully saved once Natsu pulled into the hardware store and turned the volume back down and stopped singing.

"I've never been happier to be at a hardware store" Lucy said as Natsu parked the car.

"Awww, what do you mean by that?" Natsu asked.

"I mean that I'm thankful I don't have to listen to your nerve wrecking singing any more" Lucy said as she got out of the car.

"You're so mean" Natsu said as he followed her. Once they entered the store Lucy dragged Natsu around until they found the paint section. Standing in front of the large selection of paint swatches Lucy examined them for a while before she said "I'm thinking yellow or blue, what do you think?" Turning towards Natsu she waited for her answer but all he did was shrug his shoulders. "You're not being very helpful" she said with a huff as she picked up a yellow paint swatch.

"Well I never really cared about what color the wall was, heck I probably didn't start acknowledging it until you said something" Natsu said "So I don't care what color you go with."

"Oh come on, we're supposed to pick this stuff out together. It's like when I couple buys their first house or whatever they argue over what they think should be in the house or apartment or wherever they heck they're going to live in" Lucy said as she picked up a blue swatch to compare to the yellow ones.

"Fine" Natsu said picking up one at random "How does Hay Stack sound, ooooo or how about Little Angel?" Natsu asked as he held up a selection of yellow swatches at her.

"Natsu really?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh no wait, maybe Yellow Highlighter? Moonlight? Lemon Sherbet? Viking Yellow?" Natsu said as he continued to hold swatches of yellow up at her.

"So is this your way of saying you want yellow?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow as she watched him.

"Lucy did you know it gives me Pure Joy to help you with this" Natsu said as he held up a swatch.

"Is that the name of the color, Pure Joy?" Lucy asked.

"How did you guess?" Natsu asked with feign surprise.

"I swear, maybe I should've just left you at home to deal with that landlady" Lucy muttered as she turned her attention to the yellow section since that seemed to be where Natsu was drawing all his colors from.

"What, that would've have just been cruel" Natsu said while shaking his head before instantly perking up "Besides I need to help you pick out a color to replace color you have so actively hated since the beginning of the month."

"I've always hated it" Lucy said absentmindedly as she looked over different shades of yellow that all looked the same to her. But her vision was soon replaced with blue.

"Look at all these shades of blue" Natsu said as he waved the color swatches in Lucy's face.

"Natsu please" she said as she shoved them out of her face before looking over at him.

"There's Tear Drop" he said pointing to one "or Cumulous Cloud" he pointed to another one "Caribbean Mist" another one pointed at "and my personal favorite, Pool Party!"

"Natsu I swear, do you want blue or yellow?!" Lucy said as she rubbed her forehead.

Natsu froze and stood there for a few minutes debating while Lucy began to compare the different colors before he answered "I like red."

Lucy's hopefulness of finally finding a color they could agree on was instantly dashed. Throwing the swatches down she had in her hand she stomped her feet before yelling "Natsu that was not the question! It was do you want yellow or blue!"

"And I answered, I prefer red" Natsu said with a shrug.

Grinding her teeth together as she hissed at him "_Blue or yellow?! Answer the question!_"

"Fine, okay sorry" Natsu said waving his hands in front of him "I guess blue?"

"Great" Lucy said with all the fake happiness she could muster before bending down to pick up all the swatches she had thrown down.

"So do you want any input or anything?" Natsu asked as he watched her.

"You can carry all the paint we need when a color is finally picked out" Lucy said cheerfully as she put back all the yellow swatches and began to shuffle through the blue ones. Natsu decided that it was probably for the best to not try and make any more jokes because apparently Lucy was real serious about picking out the color of paint she wanted here and now.

"Was there any color you particularly liked?" Lucy asked as she compared two in her hands.

"Uhh I think I told you that I liked Pool Party or something?" Natsu said as he watched.

"Nope, too bright and flashy" Lucy said as she began shuffling through colors again.

"What?" Natsu asked as he watched her "I thought you wanted my input and this was going to be a togetherness thing."

"Well I mean since you did say you didn't really care about the color I'm going to shoot down any color I think is too much. That's not a problem is it?"

"Nope, no I have no problem with it at all" Natsu said before falling silent and watching Lucy as she compared the colors. They ended up picking Cumulous Cloud. Natsu decided that he really hated hardware stores and then later decided that he was really going to hate painting their apartment all by himself when Lucy had to bail on him when she got a call from Levy who told her that she needed to get her bachelorette party out of the way before school began. So Natsu was left alone in a leaky apartment having to paint over the spinach green walls by himself.


	47. Pun War

"We shouldn't have stayed out so late" Lucy said with a loud yawn before flopping down onto their bed.

"Well who was the one that kept saying, just one more round?" Natsu asked with a smile as he sat down onto the bed.

"Touché" Lucy said before shifting her position for a more comfortable one. Closing her eyes she listened to Natsu talk.

"Do you think we can just call in sick tomorrow?" Natsu asked as he turned off the light.

With a small laugh Lucy murmured "Probably not, and if we did who knows what they others would joke about."

"It's not like I care what they think" Natsu said as the mattress creaked under his change of position.

"You've got a point there" Lucy said as she rolled over and looked at him "But I don't think were even going to get any sleep unless you can be quiet long enough for us to go to sleep."

"Hey you wanna hear this great joke Gajeel told me the other day?" Natsu asked out loud, not particularly towards her but she was the only one in the room.

"Natsu, sleep is nice sometimes" Lucy said as she closed her eyes.

"What do you call a group of unorganized cats?" Natsu asked as he tried to stifle his laughter.

"Fine I'll bite; what?" Lucy muttered as she opened one of her eyes.

"A cat-astrophe" Natsu said before bursting out laughing.

"That's so…terrible" Lucy said before letting out a laugh.

"But who's laughing?" Natsu asked and even in the dark she swore she could see the smirk on his face.

"It's so terrible, it's funny" Lucy said "Okay, my turn. What do you call a seagull that flies over a bay?"

"I don't know? What?" Natsu asked as he shifted his position so he was looking over at Lucy.

"A bagel" Lucy said as she giggled at the stupid joke, Natsu on the other hand started laughing like crazy.

"Oh man, that one was pretty corny Lucy. I didn't realize you knew jokes like that" Natsu said as he listened to her laugh at her joke.

"Oh come on now, after knowing you for how long why wouldn't I know any terribly corny jokes" Lucy said.

"Okay then how about this. Why did the stadium get hot after the game?" Natsu asked as he waited for Lucy's answer.

She was thinking about an answer to this one but she really couldn't think of an answer that warranted a laugh "I don't know, why?"

"Because all the fans left" Natsu said with a snort.

"Oh my god" Lucy said before letting out a laugh "That's terrible."

"Ah yes" Natsu said before laughing again "But isn't that the point of these jokes, to be so terrible their funny."

"I guess you have a point" Lucy said a few seconds later after she had calmed down "Okay but what did the duck say to the bartender?"

"Put it on my bill."

"Put it on my- wait what?!" Lucy said stopping in mid answer after Natsu interrupted her. She could hear him laughing as she laid there defeated. "How did you know?" Lucy asked.

"Oh come on Lucy, that is the oldest one in the book, it may be a classic but everyone knows the answer" Natsu said as he shook his head.

"You're no fun, you could've at least let me answer and then you could've told me you already knew the answer, you just ruined my joke."

"Okay fine, I'm sorry for ruining your corny joke" Natsu said.

"I bet you I know one that you don't even have the slightest idea what the answer is" Lucy challenged.

"You think?" Natsu asked as his eyebrow rose.

"I know so" Lucy said surely.

"Okay then, lay it on me" Natsu said as he waited for the joke.

"Why did the hipster burn his tongue?" Lucy asked before listening to the silence that enveloped the room.

"I don't know, because his coffee was so hot?" Natsu asked, hesitance in his answer.

"He drank it before it was cool" Lucy said, pausing for effect before bursting out laughing.

"That was terrible" Natsu said letting out a snort.

"Well didn't you say" Lucy managed to say between laughs "That's the whole point?"

"Yeah" Natsu said as his laughter dwindled "I did say that."

"Now then, I say we try and get some sleep." Lucy said as she rolled over.

"Okay, whatever you say" Natsu said before falling silent for a few moments. Just as Lucy was slowly drifting off she heard him say "Sleep; there's a nap for that."

"That's a terrible pun" Lucy muttered before falling asleep.

"I don't think it's that bad" Natsu said to himself.

"Now then" Lucy said as turned back to the chalkboard, picking up a piece of chalk she began to write on the board as she talked "Edgar Allen Poe, as I'm sure you all know, was an American writer, editor and literary critic. He was best known for his macabre and mysterious poetry and I'm sure all of you have at least read or heard of "The Raven". I suggest you look into the word macabre as well since you will need to know the definition of it for your quiz in a few days" loud groans filled the classroom as Lucy rolled her eyes before turning around.

Clapping her hands together she asked "Does anyone know the meaning of macabre?" The class fell silent and not a single person rose their hand "Come on guys, its fine if you get it wrong. Just give it your best shot."

One student slowly raised his hand and when Lucy nodded at him he asked "Does it mean scary or terrifying or something like that?"

"Not exactly but close" Lucy said before turning back to the board and writing down the definition as she said it out loud "It means disturbing and horrifying and it normally is used with the depiction of death or injury. Now then turn to page 789 and read to page 801. Answer all the questions in the sidebar on a separate piece of paper. When you're done you can turn it in to the bin" Lucy instructed as she turned around to look at her students. They sound of textbooks thunking onto the desk and the flipping of pages was the only sound in the room before another sound entered the air. It was a sound that as a teacher, Lucy had grown accustomed to, the sound of a vibrating phone.

"Who's ever phone that is please turn it off, I don't want to have to hand in a phone into the office" Lucy said as she crossed her arms and surveyed the room, looking for the guilty students. But no one looked surprised or guilty at all. Most seemed confused but relieved and the others just continued on with finding the assignment. Lucy figured who's ever phone it was just turned it off and was about to head back to her desk when she heard the vibrating again.

"Okay, I don't mind if you all bring your phones into class but when I hear them and I tell you to turn them off I mean it. Okay?" Lucy asked as she stared at her class waiting for a sign of whoever was her culprit. Just as she was turning around to head to her desk she turned to her head and around and asked "Please just turn it off please, or at least tell them to stop texting you during class."

"Umm Miss. Heartfilia" one student said as she raised her hand slowly.

"Yes Jessica, what is it?" she asked as she turned to the girl.

"Umm I think it's your phone" she said as she pointed towards Lucy's desk.

"What?" Lucy said as she headed over to her desk. Turning her phone on, she saw on the lock screen six unread messages from Natsu. "What the hell is he texting me for during work?" Turning back to her class she apologized "I'm sorry everyone, it looks like Jessica was right. If you want to get angry at anyone you should get angry at Couch Dragneel for not realizing that some people are trying to teach."

Sighing as she sat down into her chair, she turned off vibrate and then silenced her phone all the way. Unlocking her phone she tapped on messages and looked at the ones Natsu had sent her.

_10:12- Why shouldn't you play poker in the jungle?_

_10: 15- Because there's too many cheetahs_

_10:21- When does Snoop Dog use an umbrella?_

_10:24- For drizzle_

_10:30- What do you call an alligator in a vest?_

_10:34- An in-vest-igator_

As Lucy scrolled through the text messages she couldn't help but shake her head, although she was doing her best to keep from laughing. Was he continuing their pun war from last night? She considered looking up some puns online and text them to him in retaliation, but they were at work and they both had classes at the moment since they had gotten lucky this year and ended up getting the same lunch break, so she could just tell him then.

Setting her phone down on her desk she opened up her email on her computer to see if any students had sent her any emails recently. Just as she was looking at the last one she saw her phone light up out of the corner of her eye. Unlocking the screen she saw a new message from Natsu.

_10:38- How does a squid go into battle?_

"What the heck" Lucy muttered as she stared at the question on the screen; it was going to have something to do with arms or something of the sort. She just knew it. A few seconds later her screen lit up again.

_10:40- Well armed_

"Hardy har har" Lucy said as she unlocked her phone and considered texting him back. Her students were doing their work and it's not like she was really teaching at the moment. But if students weren't allowed to text during class then it felt kind of hypocritical to do so. Setting her phone off to the side she turned back to her computer and decided to enter in some grades, the first term was coming to an end in a few days.

She saw her phone light up again and chose to ignore it. All Natsu had to do was wait another half an hour and he could tell her all the jokes he wants to. But then her phone lit up again, and again, and again, and again until she couldn't take it anymore when it lit up the next time. Reaching over she unlocked her phone and saw she had six more new messages. Opening them up, she scrolled through them.

_10:43- What do you call a sleeping bull?_

_10:45- A bull-dozer_

_10:47- What is the difference between a poorly dressed man on a tricycle and a well-dressed men on a bicycle?_

_10:48- Attire_

_10:50- What's the moons favorite gum?_

_10:52- Orbit_

Shaking her head Lucy had to admit they were funny but now was not the time or place. She wanted to text back but that would most likely encourage him so she turned her phone off and turned back to her grade book. There was only ten more minutes until their lunch break anyway.

Once the last student had left her class after the bell ringed, Lucy grabbed her lunch and her phone and headed down to the gym. For once when she entered the gym there weren't still kids in there shooting basketballs nor doing something of the sort.

"Did you not get any of my texts or anything?" came Natsu's voice from nowhere.

"What, where are you?" Lucy asked as she looked around for him.

"Oh sorry" Natsu said poking his head out of the office he shared with the health teacher "I'm in here for once today."

"I can see" Lucy said before going into the office, it was tiny and only able to hold a desk and a single file cabinet but according to Natsu the health teacher said it was fine.

"So the texts I sent you.." Natsu asked as he watched her sit on the only extra chair in the room.

"Oh I got them, all twelve of them" Lucy said as she looked over at him.

"I thought I sent more than that" Natsu said thoughtfully before picking up his phone from the desk.

"Well I turned it off over ten minutes ago so that might be why" Lucy said as she watched him scroll on his phone.

"Oh well that makes sense I guess, but let me tell you, these kids know some good jokes" Natsu said as he sat his phone back down and dug through his bag for the sandwich he had packed earlier that morning.

"You got those jokes from students?" Lucy asked as she ate part of her leftovers from the night before.

"Yep, I sent the best ones to you. I figured after last night we were still on to see who could tell the other the bets pun" Natsu said as he took a large bite out of his sandwich.

"Oh come on, we both know my hipster one was the best" Lucy said confidently as she placed her hand on her chest.

"Sure that one was good but you have to admit the one about the different men on the bicycle was great as well" Natsu said triumphantly.

"Sure it was good but not as good as mine" Lucy said staring at him.

"You wanna bet?" Natsu asked leaning towards her.

"Do you plan on starting a war Natsu?" Lucy asked curiously as the corners of her mouth turned up into a smirk.

"It's on" Natsu said placing his hands on the desk "And I will emerge the puniest one of them all!"

"Oh we'll see" Lucy said with a laugh "We'll see."


	48. Cake Cravings

When Lucy woke up unexpectedly in the middle of the night one March she had only one thought in her mind, cake. She didn't really know why but she was craving cake for some reason but she was. Rolling over she looked at the alarm clock that resided on her side of the bed since Natsu would never be able to wake and turn off the alarm in the morning. In the dark the time, 3 o' clock AM, shone brightly in red. Now was not the time to think about eating cake.

Turning away from the clock she tried to get comfortable again and fall asleep but just as she was beginning to think she'd be able to fall back asleep her stomach let out a loud growl. Her eyes opened up and she was wide awake. "Maybe I should get something to eat" Lucy muttered to herself as she lay awake in bed while staring up at the ceiling.

Last she checked she had bought some cake mix when it had been on sale and figured that she could save it until Natsu or her's birthday. But it's not like it hurt if she made it tonight, Levy's birthday was only two days away anyway.

Propping herself up a little she looked over at Natsu's sleeping figure. "Maybe I should wake him up too, he'll probably complain tomorrow morning if I bake a cake and then eat most of it without him" Lucy whispered to herself before moving closer to him. She placed both of her hands on his shoulder before shaking him.

"Natsu, hey Natsu, come on get up" she said but to no avail. "Fine" she muttered "You don't need to get any cake."

"Cake?" Natsu said groggily, his voice muffled by the sheets.

"You would wake up once I said the word cake" Lucy said with a sigh as she pushed the sheets off of her.

"What'cha talkin' about cake for?" Natsu grumbled as he moved slightly up so he could hear her better.

"I'm hungry and I'm craving cake, so I'm going to go bake one. Do you want to help or do you want to fall back asleep and get none?" Lucy asked as she sat up fully in bed before moving her legs to the side of the bed.

"You're going to bake a cake and then eat the entire thing by yourself?" Natsu asked as he sat up slightly.

"I'm not going to eat the entire thing by myself but what I don't eat I'm going to save it for Levy's birthday in a few days" Lucy said as she stood up, stretching her arms above her head before letting them fall back to her side.

"So if I don't help you bake this cake I don't get any, right?" Natsu asked as he watched her.

"You got it" Lucy said as she walked towards the door.

"Fine" Natsu said as he practically rolled out of the bed "I'm getting up, but can I ask why you want cake in the middle of the night?"

"I'm just craving it I guess" Lucy said with a shrug as she walked out of the room and began to make her way to the kitchen, watching out for Happy's sleeping figure.

"Who the hell craves cake at 3 in the morning?" Natsu called from the room.

"I don't know; me apparently" Lucy called back as she flicked on the light in the kitchen. The still uncleaned dishes from dinner were still sitting in the sink waiting for one of them to get too tired of looking at them, and Lucy still didn't really care to deal with them so her eyes passed over them as she went in search for the hidden box of cake mix.

As she rooted around in the cabinet she could hear the slap of Natsu's feet on the floor as he walked into the kitchen.

"So what am I looking for?" Natsu asked as he looked at the dishes in the sink, he really should have washed them by now.

"Umm" Lucy said as she pulled out the cake mix "Get out three eggs first."

"Got it" Natsu said as he opened up the fridge in search for the carton of eggs that he hoped he had remembered to buy at the store.

Lucy glanced over the other two ingredients she need to get out before flipping it over to the front to see what exactly kind of cake she had bought anyway, and jackpot, it was chocolate. Placing it on the counter she then began to dig through the cabinet for a large bowl and a cake pan that she thought she might have. If she didn't have one then it looked like they'd have a thin cake.

"Here's the eggs" Natsu said, placing the eggs on the counter by the box.

"Great, do you know where the vegetable oil is?" Lucy said as she found a measuring cup for the water.

"Yeah why wouldn't I?" Natsu asked as Lucy threw a measuring cup at him.

"Great, get some vegetable oil then-STOP THE EGGS!" Lucy yelled as she noticed the eggs rolling far too close for comfort towards the edge of the counter.

"Huh?" Natsu said as he turned his attention towards the eggs "Shit!" reaching his hand out he stopped them before picking them up and placing them into the bowl. "Sorry, I kinda forgot that eggs can roll."

"How can you forget something like that?" Lucy asked as she turned on the water.

"I guess when you're baking a cake at three in the morning you can forget things like that" Natsu said before opening up a cabinet and pulling out the vegetable oil.

"You got a point" Lucy said as she watched the water fill the measuring cup.

"I should be asking you how someone can forget to turn off the faucet" Natsu said as he poured the oil into the measuring cup.

"Huh?" Lucy asked as she tilted her head at him.

"I think the cup's full" Natsu said as he gestured at her with his elbow.

Looking down Lucy saw that the cup had overflown and was now running down her hand. "Crap, crap, crap" Lucy muttered as she turned off the faucet before placing the cup onto the counter.

"You ready to finally start baking this cake?" Natsu asked after Lucy had found a towel to dry off her wet hand.

"As ready as you are" Lucy said as she placed down the towel "First things first, what am I heating the oven up to?"

"350" Natsu said as he looked at the back of the box.

"Got it" Lucy said as she punched in the numbers before turning the oven on. Turning back towards Natsu she asked "So what does it say to do next, are we just mixing everything together or what?"

Looking back down at the back of the box Natsu skimmed over the other two instructions left on the box and replied "It just says to mix it all together."

"Great" Lucy said as she appeared next to him "I'll mix it all together and you can, um…what can you do?"

"I don't know it's not like we need to do anything to the pan. I guess I could finally wash all the dishes" Natsu said as he glanced over to the sink.

"Great" Lucy said as she clapped her hands together "You get that done and I'll get this done."

"I feel as though this was some complex plan to get me to wash the dishes" Natsu said as he headed over to the sink.

"Oh come on, it's far too early for me to be thinking up any diabolical plans" Lucy said as she ripped open the cake mix that filled the air around it with a thick chocolate smell. Pouring it into the bowl as she heard the faucet turn on, she took the first measuring cup; the one filled with water and poured it into the mix. Next was the oil before she broke the three eggs on the side of the bowl and emptied them into the mix as well.

Opening the drawer that was filled to the brim with all the assorted utensils they owned, Lucy dug around until she found a large enough spoon. As she mixed the batter she couldn't help but think how she and Natsu were acting like it the middle of the day and not three something in the morning. "Hey, don't you think we're being way too productive at this early in the morning?" Lucy asked.

Shrugging his shoulders as he continued to scrub the dishes Natsu replied "I don't know, for us I guess we are being pretty productive but I mean who was the one that woke up and decided that she wanted to eat cake?"

"Well you didn't seem to have any objections when I asked you if you wanted cake" Lucy said as she finished mixing everything together, she couldn't help but think it looked almost like she had mixed up mud but it was going to taste good after she baked it. Pouring it as evenly as she could into the pan she heard the oven beep, telling her that it had finished heating up. Glancing at the time that was on the back of the box she headed over the oven.

Opening the oven and sliding the pan in, she closed the door and punched in 27 minutes. Sighing she pulled out a chair slightly before flopping down in it "I think all the energy I had earlier is all gone and now I just want to go back to sleep."

"Well if you do that then the cake might burn since I probably won't be that far behind you in falling asleep" Natsu said as he placed the final dish on a towel. He bypassed the table and went straight to the coffee maker. Grabbing the pot he went back to the sink and poured some water in it before continuing with his normal routine of making coffee.

"You are amazing" Lucy said when Natsu handed her a cup of coffee before sitting across from her.

"Good thing it's Saturday or else we'd be screwed" Natsu said before taking a loud sip of coffee.

Lucy nodded in agreement as she watched the minutes on the oven slowly move down.

"Still chocolate cake and coffee sounds like such a healthy breakfast" Natsu said as he leaned back into the chair.

"It's going to be the new breakfast of champions" Lucy said before taking another sip of coffee. "We're going to crash in like five hours aren't we?"

"Most definitely" Natsu said with a nod as the timer for the cake went off.

"I've got it" Lucy said as she sat down her coffee before getting up and turning off the oven. Grabbing the mitt sitting by the oven she opened the door, sending a stream of heat right into her face. Grabbing the pan she pulled it out of the oven before putting on the stove.

"Is it done?" Natsu asked as he watched her stick a fork into it.

"Yeah" Lucy said as she examined the fork "But I highly suggest waiting a few minutes so we don't burn our tongue off."

"You do make a good point" Natsu said as he finished the last of his coffee. Getting up he went and poured himself another cup of coffee before heading back to the table. "Hey so I was thinking" Natsu said once he sat down.

"This could be bad" Lucy said as she turned her attention back to him.

"Oh calm down, what's the worst I could say. Anyway so I've been thinking about who else would be craving cake at like 3 in the morning" Natsu said as he sat his coffee down.

"And why was this an important topic in your mind?" Lucy asked as she took a sip of coffee.

"Well because it's kinda weird to wake up in the middle of the night with a craving for cake" Natsu said as he waited for Lucy's response.

"Uh huh" Lucy said, taking another sip of her nearly empty cup.

"Well I came to the conclusion that it's something that someone who is pregnant would do or whatever" Natsu finished right as Lucy chocked on her coffee. "Hey Lucy are you all right?" Natsu asked, jumping up as Lucy continued to hack up a lung.

Holding her hand out she soon calmed down before asking "And what do you mean by that?"

"Nothing" Natsu said slowly as he sat back down "It was just a thought really, I'm sure there's plenty of other people who aren't pregnant that get cravings like that."

"Good" Lucy said with a small laugh "It just seemed that you might be implying that I'm-"

"Hey, just to cover all bases" Natsu interrupted "Are you pregnant?"

Lucy just stared at him for a few seconds, her face blank before saying "Wha-no of course I'm not! I feel perfectly fine, like you said sometimes people get cravings for thing."

"Woah clam down, I was just joking. I'm sure you would know that" Natsu said as he waved his hands in front of him "Sorry for getting you worked up."

"You better be" Lucy said with a huff.

"Still for a second I almost believed it could be true" Natsu said with a sigh before turning back to his coffee.

"Don't even joke about that" Lucy said before quickly changing the conversation "So you ready for cake?"

"Hell yeah, what kind of question is that?"

* * *

A/N: Only two more chapters left, also just wanted to clear it up but I have no intention of making Lucy pregnant after this chapter, I figured even if I didn't add that part in some might speculate. But if it's something enough people seem interested in I don't mind adjusting the last two chapters slightly to make it work.


	49. Washer Malfunction

"Natsu why is the kitchen flooded?!" Lucy yelled the second she turned the corner into the kitchen.

"Shit, I said I'd get you water" Natsu said as he slid up from behind her.

"And I told you I could get it myself" Lucy said turning around to him, hands across her chest.

"What's wrong with me getting my girlfriend something to drink?" Natsu asked as he looked at the damage from over Lucy's shoulder.

"Well it bothers me when you act like I'm going to break if I do anything! I mean what are you going to do when I'm eight months or hell even six? You're going to be trying to carry me around" Lucy said before shaking her head "I'm only three months pregnant, please get it through your head I can still do almost everything I could do if I wasn't. So just calm down."

"I'm perfectly calm, just a little…cautious" Natsu said as he avoided her piercing gaze.

"Yeah oka-wait back up" Lucy said shaking her head again "Why is the kitchen flooded, the land lady is going to be pissed!"

"Uh well, umm I don't know?" Natsu said before offering her a shaky smile.

"Natsu what did you do?" Lucy asked as she turned back to the mess.

"Nothing, I have no idea what all of this is" Natsu said as he gestured to the miniature pond that had formed on their kitchen floor during the time they were away.

"Well I know for a fact I don't remember doing anything that could cause it, plus you didn't want me to go into the kitchen when we got home" Lucy said glaring at him from the corner of her eye.

"Don't go pointing fingers at me" Natsu said, placing his hand defensively on his chest "It could've been Happy or maybe it was no one's fault."

"Natsu, we live together. I'm pretty sure for something like this to happen it would have to be one of the two of us. You can't blame this on anyone else" Lucy said as she continued to stare him down.

Avoiding her eyes he was silent for a while before muttering "Okay fine, I _may_ have broken the dish washer."

"What?" Lucy said her eyes going wide before looking over at the piece of junk that the land lady had insisted was a dish washer when she had moved into the place. It had worked for all of maybe two days before it had completely broken down and flooded her kitchen one night.

"Okay I know, I know, why didn't I tell you this earlier. But before you lose it I had planned to go to the store during lunch and just tell you I had to go pick something up for Gajeel or whatever but then Levy wanted to interrogate me about, heck I don't even remember and then" Natsu rambled before Lucy clamped her hand over his mouth.

Shaking her head as she talked Lucy explained "Listen I guess I never told you this but that dish washer has never worked. I guess I figured you just didn't realize it was there because I've always washed the dishes by hand. But that thing is broke beyond repair and it just sits there taking up electric and space since the land lady says she won't get rid of it."

Pulling her hand away from his mouth he said "Are you sure about it not being able to get fixed because I'm pretty sure-"

"No" Lucy said, cutting him off. With a sigh she said "Apparently she got someone to come in and look at it and they said they couldn't fix it."

"Lucy?" Natsu asked her.

"Yes?"

"Are you really that gullible?"

"What?!" Lucy cried as she stared up at his straight face.

"Well I mean after I broke it I panicked so I looked at it and I mean it looks like it just needs a few new parts and it'll be fine" Natsu said with a shrug "I hadn't planned on it being too big of a deal until I realized that water was coming out of it."

"Wait so let me get this straight, the land lady lied to me. Didn't she?" Lucy asked as she looked back over at the dish washer.

"Yeah, she probably never called a guy and just told you that to get you to stop asking her" Natsu said with a shrug "But if you wait a little bit longer I should have it fixed by the end of the day."

"Really?" Lucy asked.

"Yep, let me just clean up all this water and then I'll head out and get the parts" Natsu said with a nod.

"Great" Lucy said as she rolled up her sleeves "Let's get to work."

"Wait, wait, wait you don't need to-"Natsu began as he waved his hands at her.

"Natsu, don't" Lucy said hoping she sounded as best as she could to Erza.

"Yeah, okay" Natsu squeaked "This'll be a team effort."

"Great" Lucy said with a smile before maneuvering her way into the kitchen to find the towels. After they spent the next hour cleaning up the kitchen, Natsu headed out and left Lucy with all her grading and Happy.

Happy laid sprawled out on the table watching her with one eye lazily opened as she went through the stack of papers she had to grade. Who knows, maybe maternity leave wouldn't be so bad. She still could remember clearly when she found out she was pregnant, it felt like it had been almost yesterday or that morning.

After the whole cake incident she had tried to brush it off as nothing but a passing craving for something. Heck Erza always seemed to be craving cake, but then a week later she began to feel nauseous and a few times she had even gotten sick plus among a few other warning signs. She had become a little paranoid and had begun to wonder if what Natsu had asked her could actually be a reality. Two pregnancy tests later (just to be safe since she had always been told to never fully trust them) she had a feeling Natsu might have been onto something.

Then one doctors visit later it turned out she was almost seven weeks pregnant. Natsu's reaction had been interesting to say the least. He froze for about ten seconds before nonchalantly saying "I guess I was right about the whole cake thing."

So far the worst part, besides all the normal worst parts, was Natsu and his recent over protectiveness. She figured he'd give it up soon; it could get bothersome at times. But the more she thought about it the more she realized he had never really been around a pregnant person for a long period of time since none of their friends had even been. It was starting to look like she was going to have to find some way to fix the problem before it escalated.

Natsu was back by the time she had reached the middle of the stack. "Yo" he called in greeting before closing the door behind him.

"Welcome back" she called back as she continued to glance over the test she had in her hand. She watched as he walked across the kitchen before letting the plastic bag fall to the floor with a thump. As he knelt down by the dish washer she asked "You do realize I'm not made of china at the moment, right?"

"Huh?" Natsu asked as he took out one of the pieces from the bag.

"I said you do realize I'm not as fragile as you seem to think I am at the moment" Lucy said before glancing back down at the paper.

Natsu was quiet for a few minutes before he answered "Yeah I mean I looked up everything I could think of after you told me that you were pregnant. I mean I guess I knew the basic of what every guy knows about pregnancy but the more I read about it the more I began to…well kinda freak out." Lucy glanced at him over the paper as she watched him unscrew something off the dish washer.

"I began to worry about every problem that could happen no matter how little of chance there was that it would happen and I guess I kinda panicked" Natsu said running his hand through his hair as he looked into the dish washer. "Trust me; I know you're not at all fragile. It's just I can't help but worry because this is a big thing. I mean, I guess I didn't expect something like this to happen even though it's something that's always happening. I guess I always thought that having kid happens after you and your partner talk about it and plan it."

"So you're worrying more about what's going to happen next and all of that is turning into worry that you're directing at me?" Lucy asked as she continued to watch him.

"Yeah, I guess that sounds about right" Natsu said, shrugging his shoulders before continuing to work on the dish washer.

"Well then just talk to me about it" Lucy said with a sigh. Setting the paper down, she scooted her chair out before getting up.

"Hmm?" Natsu muttered absentmindedly as he continued with the task at hand before feeling Lucy leaning against him. Looking over at her he saw her crouched down next to him while resting her head on his shoulder with her eyes closed. She wasn't saying anything, so Natsu just continued to work on the dish washer while doing his best not to disturb her.

Lucy eventually broke her silence with a loud sigh before reaching out and wrapping her hand around Natsu's wrist. He stopped what he was doing and looked over at her curiously.

"Listen" Lucy said as she opened her eyes "I get it if you're a little scared about this, because I know I am. Not like that's a bad thing, it's expected you know. One day it was just the two of us and then all of a sudden it's going to change." Rubbing her thumb against Natsu's hand she continued "But I love you and I'm pretty sure it's safe to say you love me to. So I know we'll be able to get through all of this and emerge even better than before. Besides, I'm sure we'll be fine when all of this is over, I mean we do look after kids for a living."

A small chuckle escaped Natsu before he moved his hand in Lucy's so it was clasping hers "I love you too, a lot" he murmured "I'm sure your right but I know that it's going to take a lot more to make us worry less."

"Oh please, the next six months are probably going to be torture. We're probably going to be more stressed then we ever were in college" Lucy said.

"You sure about that?" Natsu asked jokingly.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure" Lucy said with a soft smile appearing on her face "But we'll get through, because after those six months we're going to have something we made because of our love. Sure there's going to be a lot of crying and god knows what else. But it'll worth it. So I'm ready to listen to all of your questions, no matter how stupid or ridiculous, if you're willing to listen to me complain about my back, my feet, my bladder and whatever the hell else is going to just be a pain."

"Of course I'll listen to you. I don't want to hear it from Levy if you only go and complain to her" Natsu said with a shudder.

"You're scared of Levy?" Lucy said with a chuckle.

"She's like a tiny ball of anger" Natsu said as he stared down at the dish washer parts that littered the floor.

"Well then" Lucy said after she had finished laughing "What questions do you have?"

Feeling her squeeze his hand Natsu replied "I hope you're ready because I have a lot."


	50. New Beginnings

"So why are we looking at names again?" Natsu asked as he looked over Lucy's shoulder at one of the books she had recently gotten from the library.

"To get some ideas obviously, we can't just leave the baby nameless" Lucy said, leaning against Natsu's chest. The two of them were currently sprawled out on the couch with Lucy sitting between Natsu's legs and Natsu's hands resting on her enlarged stomach.

"Well I still don't see the point of the book; can't we just come up with these names by ourselves?" Natsu asked as he rested his chin on her shoulder, he could practically hear her rolling her eyes at him for that last statement.

"That's not really the point, this books has tons of different names that we wouldn't have ever thought of, as well as the meanings behind the names" Lucy said "Your name is pretty important so I want to make sure our child has a name that, well represents them or something of that realm."

"Okay, but if it's a girl why not name it Layla and if it's a boy..." Natsu said as he stopped talking halfway through his sentence.

"Igneel?" Lucy asked before feeling Natsu shrug "I don't really know about that" Lucy said. She sighed before continuing "Plus I don't really like the idea of naming a kid after someone who's…dead. I just feel that they might think they have to live up to them or something. Maybe if it was a variation of their name maybe but…"

"It's fine" Natsu said "It was a just a suggestion so we don't have to sit here for hours and look at different variations of the same name."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad, and we're not going to sit here for hours. Just look at any name that catches your eye for ideas" Lucy said as she flipped another page.

"Okay, got it" Natsu said before he skimmed over the page, nothing really did catch his attention so he was done within a minute but it looked like Lucy was reading every name and meaning on the two pages. When she finally turned the page again the same thing happened, Natsu was done in under a minute and Lucy took close to five minutes, and so this process went on for a good twelve pages before Natsu tried to get off the topic of names.

"Do you think we should be looking for a bigger place or anything?"

"Hmm?" Lucy asked, turning her head slightly so she could see him "What do you mean?"

"Don't you think we should be looking for a bigger place to live? I mean unless you think this place would be fine. But I mean this apartment isn't exactly top notch" Natsu said before gesturing to the recently cracked window that the landlady still hadn't called someone in to at least look at it.

"True" Lucy said "It's not like we don't have the money to move into a better one and it has been feeling a little cramped lately but that might be because of, well, the baby."

"I only thought about how would it work with having two adults and a kid living in one bedroom apartment, I mean, it's not terrible when their still an infant but I mean there's no way it would work when they're older. So I mean we'd have to move out at some point. I just thought it be better to bring it up now then later."

"Uh-huh, are you sure that's the only reason you brought it up?" Lucy asked, her lips tugging up into a smug smile.

"Okay, so I maybe I felt like I was about to rip my hair out after seeing twenty different ways to spell the name Taylor" Natsu said over Lucy's laughter.

"I should've known, you can so easily change the topic when you want to" Lucy said with a smile "But you do know that means we have to look at different housing listings, right?"

"Well I think I can handle that better than looking at how you can spell Taylor different ways but it's still the same name and it's still said the same exact way" Natsu said as he felt Lucy shift against him.

"Hey Natsu" Lucy said, tilting her head up to look up at him.

"Hmmm, what is it?" Natsu asked cautiously. Everything on her face read emotional, and that emotion was nowhere in the spectrum of happy.

"Do you think I look too big?" Lucy asked, straight faced.

"What?" Natsu said, freezing up for a few seconds "No of course not, you look great-"

"I wasn't asking you if you if I looked fat in that sense, I meant don't I look larger than most who are at six months?"

"Umm" Natsu said studying her cautiously "I can't really tell, I'm guessing you look like every other pregnant person at six months." He shrugged at her when she pouted at his answer before she let out a sigh.

"I should've asked Levy or Erza if I wanted a halfway decent answer" Lucy said with a huff.

"Maybe it's just you" Natsu suggested "I mean you probably don't see yourself the same way everyone else does. So maybe it's just your imagination."

"Really?" Lucy asked.

"I'm not really sure but it makes sense" Natsu said.

"I guess you're right" Lucy said with a sigh before readjusting herself "I guess I'm just finding everything I can to worry about."

"Its fine, it's not like it's a bother. I promised you I would listen to all you're complaining without complaint and I don't plan to break that yet."

"Yet?" Lucy asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"You know what I meant; I don't plan on breaking it at all. There better?" Natsu said with a huff as he heard Lucy try to hide her giggling.

Once Lucy has stopped her laughing she looked up at Natsu and asked "Hey do you still want to go with me to the ultrasound?"

"Yeah why wouldn't I? Isn't this the one where we can find out the gender, right?" Natsu asked as he looked down at her.

"Yeah, and I figure we might as well know" Lucy said before sitting up a little "Anyway, if we're going we have to get up now. The appointment is in two hours and it should take a half hour to get to the place." She managed to scoot herself out of his legs enough to pivot herself and her legs over his and onto the floor. Standing up she looked back at him and said "Be ready in an hour."

"Got it" he said giving her a thumbs up. He followed her until she disappeared into the bedroom before letting out a groan and letting his head fall back over the arm rest of the sofa. He lay like that for a while with his eyes closed, and doing his best to ignore the kink in his neck. Happy interrupted him though when he jumped onto his chest before meowing loudly at him.

Opening one eye, Natsu raised his head slightly to look at the cat who was sitting on his chest looking at him very judgingly for a cat. "Don't look at me like that" Natsu grumbled at him. Happy continued to stare at him as if he was waiting for a better answer. "Listen I can't just ask her to marry me whenever I want, there has to be at least some kind of mood. Besides it's not like I've thought about it a lot, I don't even have a ring, so" Natsu said as he stuck his tongue out at Happy "to you too."

Happy cocked his head at him before meowing at him again more loudly. "I can't believe I'm talking to a cat like it'll know what I'm saying." Letting out another groan Natsu pressed the palms of his hands onto his face before falling backwards again. Thousands of different thoughts flew through his head as he tried to think up something to do; he was suddenly beginning to understand what Gajeel must have been feeling almost a year ago.

He heard the bedroom door open and the sound of Lucy's feet on the floor as she walked into the room. "Hey, are you getting up? Cause if not I'm leaving without you" Lucy said as she stared down at Natsu.

"I wanna marry you" Natsu replied absentmindedly, not even processing until a few seconds later what he had even said.

"What?!" Lucy exclaimed as she felt her face heat up.

"Shit, shit, shit" Natsu said as he instantly bolted up as a million things went through his mind _"Shit, shit I said that out loud! I'm dead, I'm a dead! Shit, dammit, abandon ship, abandon ship! Abort! Abort!"_

"Uhh" Lucy said as she stood frozen looking at Natsu's frenzied behavior as he tried to say something, anything.

"Listen I didn't mean to say that, I was just thinking it and said it out loud and-"Natsu sputtered as he stood up, his face bright red.

"So…" Lucy said cautiously "Was that a marriage proposal or what?"

"Huh?" Natsu asked, caught off guard.

"Did you mean what you said?" Lucy asked, cocking her head slightly as she waited for an answer.

"Uh well" Natsu said nervously, scratching the back of his head "I guess I meant it."

"You guess?"

"Uh well, I did mean what I said. I mean why wouldn't I want to marry you, it just kinda slipped out at the wrong time" Natsu said while tripping over half his words.

"So it wasn't a marriage proposal?" Lucy asked again.

"Uh, I mean it could be I guess. If you wanted it to-"Natsu said before being cut off by Lucy running at him and flinging her arms around his neck. "Wha-"he said trying again to get something out before Lucy crashed her lips against his. Once Natsu had finally managed to process what was going on he draped his arms around her waist and pressed his lips against her's harder.

Lucy pulled back and looked up at his confused face before saying "Yes."

Natsu was quiet for a few seconds before responding with a simple "Huh?"

"What do you mean huh?" Lucy said hitting him lightly on the chest "I answered your question, well it was more of a statement, but I answered it."

It took Natsu a little bit to process exactly what she was saying but once it finally sunk in his face lit up "Really?"

"Yeah duh, I already said it, I love you so of course I'm going to say yes! After almost four years together and an almost born child, I'm pretty sure I want to be with you for the rest of my life" Lucy said with a chuckle before he picked her up. Letting out a squeal as he laughed she hit on the shoulder as she said "You idiot, put me down!"

"Sorry, sorry" Natsu managed to say between laughs before setting her back down gently "I'm just…happy. I just really love you; do I ever tell you that?"

"Plenty and well I'm happy to you idiot but you don't see me trying to pick you up" Lucy said as she felt Natsu press her forehead to hers.

"Well I think that be pretty funny to see you try" Natsu said with a chuckle.

"I swear" Lucy said quietly as the two of them stood there for a while in their embrace. It was broken when Lucy realized that they would be late if she didn't get Natsu into some real pants.

"As happy as I am right now, we do have things to do" Lucy said pressing a kiss to his check before un-wrapping her arms from around his neck "And I'd like it if you were wearing real clothes when we go."

"Such high expectations" Natsu joked, giving her a quick kiss on the lips before taking his arms slowly off her waist.

"Uh huh" Lucy said "But who's the only one that's dressed?"

"Yeah, yeah I hear you" Natsu said waving his hand at her before stopping dead in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked.

"I don't have a ring" Natsu said dejectedly.

"So?" Lucy asked with a shrug "It's not like it's that important at the moment, you can worry about it later if you want."

"Wait" Natsu said, turning around quickly before running into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Lucy asked as she followed him.

She found him digging around in a cabinet before emerging with something wrapped in shiny blue plastic in his hand "Aha, I knew we still had one from Halloween."

"What are you talking about?" Lucy asked as she watched him open the packaging as he walked towards her pulling out a….ring pop? "What is that?" Lucy asked as she tried to hold back a snicker.

"It can be your stand in ring" Natsu said as he held it out to her.

"I don't need a ring Natsu, especially one made out of sugar" Lucy said as she stared down at him.

"Well you're no fun" Natsu said before placing it down on the counter.

"You can tell me all about it after you get ready" Lucy said as she watched him leave the room.

"Yeah, yeah" he said waving his hand at her with a chuckle.

"There she is, can you see her?" asked nurse as she pointed to the black and white grainy image.

"So it's a girl?" Natsu asked.

"Ye-Oh wait look at that, it's a boy" she said.

"So it's a boy?" Lucy asked as she squinted at the screen.

"Nope, congratulations, it looks like you two are expecting twins!" the nurse said excitedly.

"What?!" Lucy and Natsu said together.

"Yep, a boy and a girl, aren't you two lucky?"

"Natsu" Lucy said, her voice emotionless.

"Yeah?" Natsu asked.

"I hate you."

"I'm sorry."

* * *

A/N: Fairy High is officially completed! And as normal I can't leave without a terrible joke. Anyway I have an idea in progress for another multi-chapter fic, but I probably won't start uploading it until June-ish. But I'll still upload the occasional one shot until then. So thanks to everyone who read, reviewed and liked this fic!


	51. Epilouge: 3 Years Later

"Now then" Lucy said as she paced in the front of her classroom "Can anyone tell me what me what a theme is?" Surveying the room, she waited for any hands to rise up. When she noticed a girl in the back looking like she was contemplating raising her's she called on her. "Jasmine, do you know the answer?"

The girl glanced around a few times to see if she was really calling on her before quietly answering "The subject or lesson an author conveys in their writing."

"Correct" Lucy said with a nod before asking again "So can anyone tell me what the theme is for the novel were currently reading, The Grapes of Wrath?" Once again there were no hands raised so she called on the only kid who had seemed to be even reading the book instead of getting all the answer for homework online. "James, what is the theme?"

"Oh, um the theme is family?" he answered, his voice wavering slightly.

"Yes but add a bit more to it, that's a little too broad" Lucy said as she stopped her pacing and stood in front of the row of desks he was in.

"Um, family is a means of survival?"

"Good job, without each other, the Joads would have had no way of coping with the loss of their land or their move to California" Lucy said before continuing her pacing, glancing at the clock she saw she had only three more minutes until the bell rang "So they and many of the other workers, learned that they are stronger and safer when they reach out to other families, and when they create a sense of community. This was just one of the main themes that comes up in the book"

Heading over to her desk she picked up a stack of papers that had on it their homework for tonight. Walking down the aisle of desk she passed it out as she said "Now then, for homework tonight you are to read the final chapter in the Grapes of Wrath and fill out this organizer that will help you write your essay on one of the many themes in the story besides family." Just as she finished saying the last word the bell rang and the sounds of scraping chairs filled the classroom.

Sighing, Lucy went and sat down at her desk, she had a five minute break until she had to start teaching again and the next class was an overly rowdy bunch of seniors who were getting a little too excited about it being only two months until their graduation. Picking up her phone, she unlocked it to see she had two unread messages and a missed phone call.

Tapping on her messages, she saw one of the missed texts was from Natsu and the other one from the twins' babysitter and if she had sent her a message then that probably meant the missed call was from her. Lucy couldn't help but feel a feeling of dread come over her at this thought, she had really hoped they could keep the same babysitter for a record of four months but it was looking like that might not happen. Opting to skip over her message, she opened Natsu's instead.

_"__Hey just thought I'd let you know that Emily says that she's quitting for real this time. I'm guessing Kasai did something…again"_

Well it turned out her gut feeling was right, they were down another babysitter and it was probably going to end up being their daughters fault, not on purpose but it's definitely going to end up being connected.

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she tried to think of something to text back to him but the bell signaling the start of class rang. Placing her phone back down she decided they could talk on the way home; this was the final period of the day. So she did her best to try and teach her class what to expect on their next big test to only have about four actually listen. The other fifteen, well they seemed to bust discussing what they planned to do over the summer.

Once the final bell finally rang and they all ran out of the class, she flopped herself back down in her chair with a small sigh. It was only Tuesday and they were acting like it was Friday. With a grumble she pulled out her lesson plan and scratched in what they hadn't finished in class and how she'd fit it into the next class as well as adding notes such as what papers she'd need to print out the next morning.

She was just considering starting to grade the stack of papers she had when she heard a knock. Looking up she saw Natsu leaning in the doorway with a tired smile on his face, as well as some small stubble on his chin.

"You forgot to shave this morning" Lucy noted as she picked up her stack of papers before sliding them into her bag.

"Well it's kinda hard when it's your turn in the morning to deal with two crazed kids" Natsu said as he absentmindedly ran his hand over it.

"What do you mean by that?" Lucy said with a small chuckle as she slung her bag over her shoulder and stood up "It's more like they don't have any energy at all."

"Well yeah" Natsu said with a shrug "But it's still hard trying to wake them up before we leave so they don't sleep in 'til noon."

"Maybe they'd be better behaved if we did" Lucy said as the two of them headed out to the parking lot.

"Yeah, you're probably right" Natsu said before his eyes widened "Which reminds me, apparently Kasai decided that not only could Happy fly, but he could teach her how to fly as well."

"So is that the reason we no longer have a babysitter?" Lucy asked with a sigh, hoping that neither of them actually made it into the air.

"Yes and no" Natsu said with a small shake of his head.

"So there's more?" Lucy asked, beginning to wonder if she should give the poor girl a little extra for her troubles.

"Apparently Nash hid from her for about two hours and she was about ready to call the police when she found him sitting outside on the middle of the sidewalk just reading" Natsu said "And then when she was telling him why he couldn't just do that Kasai claimed they had been playing hide and seek."

"For two hours?" Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"She claims she forgot they were playing" Natsu said as they reached the car "Why am I always the one that ends up getting these phone calls and not you?"

Opening the car door and getting in Lucy replied "Because I just ignore them since you always pick them up."

"And what would happen if all of a sudden I didn't pick up?" Natsu asked as he closed the car door and started the car.

"Why wouldn't you?" Lucy asked.

"Touché" Natsu said "So do you have any idea what babysitter or nanny we haven't driven away yet?"

"No" Lucy said "I'm pretty sure she was the only one left that does all day during the week. We might have to add the extra forty minute travel time and just take them to the closest day care."

"Forty less minutes of sleep" Natsu said sadly "It would be such a terrible sacrifice."

"Yeah but that's our last option" Lucy said as she shook her head. She loved the two of them to death but they could be such a handful. She could still remember the day they brought them home as if it was yesterday. But how was she ever going to forget the day when she was handed not one but two crying babies. She and Natsu loved them to death but those first few sleepless weeks had been hard to get through with their sanity intact.

When it had come time for Lucy to go back to work they had looked into putting the twins into a nearby daycare only to find the nearest one the next town over. While it was only about twenty minutes away, it wasn't exactly convenient to their already twenty minute drive to the school and it didn't help they would have to go in the opposite direction of the school to drop the kids off. They had labeled it off as too far out of their way at the time, but now it was looking like they would be giving up those precious extra minutes of sleep.

"So" Natsu said "How early are we talking about setting the alarm clock now?"

"Probably almost an entire hour" Lucy said with a sigh as she leaned her head back against the head-rest of the seat.

"Goodbye seven hours of sleep, hello six" Natsu said mournfully and a tad too dramatically.

"Just go to sleep earlier" Lucy chided as she rolled her eyes.

"Well do you plan to go to sleep earlier?" Natsu asked "Last I checked half the time I'm up so late is to make sure you don't fall asleep while grading papers Miss I Need To Grade All My Papers At Once."

"Shouldn't that be a Mrs?" Lucy asked.

"No because last I checked I won't be found trying to grade a stack of papers at all hours of the night" Natsu said as they pulled up to their house. They had been planning to just stay in the old apartment for the first few months after the baby had been born. But once finding out it was going to be babies they figured it might be better to just move into a house.

Getting out of the car, Lucy grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulders as Natsu headed off to go face the babysitter first. Opening the front door, he headed inside and could hear a theme song for one of the numerous kids shows coming from the TV. He could see the twins sitting on the couch and one very angry or stressed, babysitter heading his way.

"Hey Emily" Natsu said "So um-"

"I'm quitting for good this time" she said as she breezed by him "Goodbye."

Natsu cringed as he heard the door slam and then open a few seconds later. "So I take it that didn't go too well?" Lucy asked as she closed the door behind her.

"She didn't even bother to get her money. She just stormed out" Natsu said, a little taken back.

"I'll go find the number for the daycare, you go talk to the twins" Lucy said as she shrugged her bag off onto the ground.

"Uh-huh" Natsu said as he glanced over at the twins who were now looking over the couch at their parents. He still couldn't get over it sometimes how alike they looked, other than one big detail. Kasai's pink hair stood out in stark comparison to Nash's blond locks. "Do you two know what you did today?" Natsu asked as he crossed his arms and tried to make the best stern face he could think to make.

"I tried to learn how to fly" Kasai said as she flapped her arms up and down.

"Yeah, me and your Mom heard about it from Emily" Natsu said doing his best to keep his expression in place.

"She told you" Kasai said her eyes lighting up "Did she tell you that Happy can fly?"

"She told us that you said he can" Natsu said realizing quickly that this kind of treatment wasn't going to work on Kasai.

"Yeah Happy told me he could fly!" she cried as she pointed over at Happy who was currently tucked up into a ball and fast asleep.

"Kasai, Happy is a cat. He can't talk and he can't fly either. Just like how people can't fly, which means you can't either" Natsu said glancing over to see if was having any sort of effect on Nash, best to know whether or not he would need to change strategies. Nash seemed a lot more affected by Natsu's stare then Kasai who was the one with it currently on her.

"I could fly" Kasai said as she crossed her arms and a pout settled across her face "I just need to flap my arms really hard" and as if to prove this point she began to flap her arms around again.

"Uh-huh?" Natsu said as his eyebrow went up, this was beginning to look more and more like a Lucy conversation to him. So he turned his attention to the other perpetrator, Nash.

"I almost forgot what you did mister" Natsu said as he turned his gaze to his son. Kasai stopped flapping her arms for a second and looked over at her brother.

Nash pointed at himself, a guilty look spreading across his face.

"Yes you" Natsu said as he stood firm, his arms still crossed "Emily looked for you for two hours only to find you outside reading. Care to tell me why you were outside?"

"Me and Kasai were playing hide and seek" Nash said as he looked down at the sofa, avoiding his dad's eyes.

"Uh-huh, and what else?" Natsu asked.

"And Kasai was taking a long time looking for me so I went back inside and got a book to read while I hid" Nash said as he continued to avoid his dad's gaze.

"Do you know why what happened wasn't right?" Natsu asked hoping he'd get through to one of the twins.

Nash nodded his head and answered "I shouldn't have hid outside where no one could see me and is should have gone back inside if Kasai hadn't found me after a long time."

"Okay then, I hope you've learned your lesson" Natsu said as he watched Nash nod his head. Now all that was left to do was get through to Kasai, which was harder than it would seem.

"What about you Kasai" Natsu said turning back to Kasai "Do you know what you did wrong?"

"I can fly" Kasai said, determination in her voice.

"Yeah I don't think so dear" Lucy said sneaking up from behind Natsu.

"Mommy" Kasai said as she held her arms up.

"Hello Kasai" Lucy said as she picked her daughter up. Resting her on her hip she looked at her with a stern gaze and asked "You do know you can't fly Kasai, you're a human and we can't fly."

"But why not?" Kasai said as she crossed her arms across her chest as another pout formed on her face.

"Because we don't have wings" Lucy said "Birds can fly because they have wings. You and Happy don't have wings which means you can't fly."

Kasai was quiet for a few minutes as she seemed to soak in this information before saying "So I can't fly?"

"Sorry dear, you can't" Lucy said as she pressed a kiss to her temple "Now then I think we have something else to talk about." Setting Kasai back down on the couch she looked at the two of them as she said "Emily is not going to be watching you two for us anymore."

"Why?" Nash asked, his brow furrowed.

"She..." Lucy said as she looked over at Natsu for help.

"She has to move to another town so she can't watch you two anymore" Natsu said as Lucy gave him a nod as a silent thank you.

"Oh" the two of them said in unison.

"So now the two of you are going to stay at a daycare while Dad and I are at work" Lucy said as she clapped her hands together. "You'll get to meet other kids that are your age, doesn't that sound like fun?"

"Yeah" Kasai as she began to bounce up and down. Nash on the other hand looked a bit, well, frightened.

"It's going to be fine" Natsu said as he rustled Nash's hair.

"Well at least that's all settled" Lucy said with a sigh as the twins quickly went back to watching the show they had been watching.

"I'll begin to mourn for the sleep I'll lose" Natsu said sadly as Lucy hit him in the shoulder.

"Oh calm the act drama queen" Lucy said "You'll just be going to sleep earlier."

"And will you?" Natsu asked.

"I'll try" Lucy said with a small smile "I do have some papers I need to grade."

"Then grade them now" Natsu said before pressing his lips onto her forehead "I'll make dinner, you just grade your papers."

"Oh what a charmer you are" Lucy said, placing her hand over her forehead.

"Isn't that why you married me?" Natsu said with a chuckle.

"Yes is suppose" Lucy said as she leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss on his lips "So then what are we having for dinner?"

"It's going to be a surprise" Natsu said wiggling his eyebrow.

"I hope the surprise won't be you setting the oven on fire" Lucy said jokingly.

"Hardy har, har" Natsu said sarcastically "A guy sets the oven on fire one time!"

"Oh I'm sure you've gotten better at not catching things on fire after all these years of practice" Lucy said, patting his cheek before going over and taking all the papers out of her bag. Natsu had already headed into the kitchen once she had taken out all of her papers. Getting up she went over and sat on the couch by the twins.

Taking a deep breath she took out the first paper and her pen. Looking over it she felt a feeling of happiness just wash over her. Here she was sitting next to her two (semi-crazy) kids and a loving husband who sometimes seemed like a third kid. She couldn't help but feel lucky that she had been given this life. Sure she had worked for it but fate was always involved in some way.

She had only moved to Magnolia by random, she hadn't planned to apply to Fairy High but she did when she just happened to notice a position in the newspaper She could've gone an entirely different path but here she was feeling perfectly content with her life, something she had thought she'd never have after her mother's death.

Smiling to herself, a chuckle almost escaped from her lips. She couldn't help but feel this happy, and she hoped Natsu would be the same when she told him they may be adding a new addition soon.


End file.
